


Set in Stone

by Vaguely_downwards



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Harry Potter Next Generation, Resurrection Stone
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:20:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28781136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vaguely_downwards/pseuds/Vaguely_downwards
Summary: After an accident on a dark and stormy night, Teddy Lupin finds that some things aren't quite as set in stone as they appear.Set in 2009, Everybody lives AU with a little *spice*
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Remus Lupin & Teddy Lupin & Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks, Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Harry Potter & James Potter & Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 29
Kudos: 23





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So it's going to be a long one and completely different than anything I've ever attempted before. Lets see how this goes

Somebody should have warned him, Teddy Lupin thought bitterly, that being like them had consequences. Ever since he could remember he had been told he was ‘so much like Remus’ or ‘ the carbon copy of Tonks’. No one had ever warned him that would mean seemingly endless hours of detention - or maybe they’d simply forgotten, Remus and Nymphadora Lupin had been dead for 11 years after all. Or maybe, a little voice in his head said, you should have figured that out yourself. Teddy thumbed the Marauders Map in his pocket and grinned to himself - it wasn’t like he didn’t know his fathers reputation.  
“What are you grinning about?” Asked Jack Turpin, his best friend and partner in numerous petty misdeeds, said from beside him. “This stuff is disgusting.”  
They had been friends since their second day at Hogwarts, when Teddy had spilled armadillo bile down the front of Jack’s robes on his way back to his seat in potions. Jack had simply laughed, told him it was no big deal and spent the rest of the day smelling like a petting zoo. He really hadn’t seemed to mind. Then again, as the tallest in their year with long brown hair and cheek bones he didn’t yet know what to do with, if there was anyone who could pull it off, it was him. He was funny, Teddy found, and so laid back you could lay a carpet on him - in a way that was nearly innocent and naive, if he hadn’t been the biggest advocate for trouble Teddy had met outside of himself and George Weasley.  
Currently they walked shoulder to shoulder through the forbidden forest, the light from Hagrid lamp the only thing that illuminated the mass of trees surrounding them - the moon was hidden behind rolling clouds of deep purple. Between them swung the carcass of an animal, what it had previously been Teddy didn’t dare ask, that they were to feed to Hogwarts’ resident Thestrals.  
“Nothing, just thinking.” Teddy answered evasively, raising his eyebrows slightly. “hey, watch this.”  
He pointed his wand at Hagrid’s feet in front of them and watched triumphantly as the shoelaces began to untie themselves, snake across the ground and tie both of Hagrid’s enormous shoes together. Hagrid stopped so abruptly that Teddy nearly walked into him, the carcass swinging precariously in his hand.  
“Everything alright professor?” He asked, trying to keep his grin under control. Hagrid, it seemed, appeared to be having the same problem, Teddy could see the corners of his beard twitching slightly in the lamp light.  
“Looks like some silly buggers tied my shoelaces together….again”  
“Now, who would do that Hagrid?” He tried to sound innocent, truly he did. “ Do you think it was the centaurs?”  
“Or the bow truckles?” piped Jack  
“The pixies?”  
“The acromantula?”  
“The…werewolves?”  
“Aye, probably closely related. Now sort them out and finish this detention before you get anymore Lupin.”  
“yes, sir!” He’d been at Hogwarts 2 months now and the amusement of calling Hagrid ‘professor’ and ‘sir’ still hadn’t worn off for Teddy. After all, he’d grown up incredibly close to his godfather, and had seen Hagrid far too drunk for ‘Professor’ to truly stick. 

They carried on through the forest, the meat swinging wildly between the two boys. Thunder rumbled overhead occasionally, deep and threatening above the whisper of the trees.  
“If it rains.” Jack complained as they entered a clearing. “ we’re going to get soaked”  
“Nah we won’t, not if we’re quick. Righ’ put the meat down ‘ere and stand back”  
The boys did as they were told, backing up until Teddy felt the back of his knees connect with the stump behind him. He sat down gingerly, eyes fixated on the carcass as strands of meat began to tear itself from the bone. Teddy had never been this close to a thestral before. He’d seen them in books, having inherited his fathers remarkably in depth collection on magical creatures, and their sunken eyes and bony rib cages had him mesmerised, but he’d never seen one up close. Of course, having never seen anyone die, he couldn’t seem them now either, but he could feel their presence; hear the whisper of their hooves on the floor and every swish of their tails. One brushed past him, close enough to touch. Teddy reached out his hand and felt the leathery skin under his palm and the sinewy muscle shrouding the strength hidden beneath. He barely moved, holding his breath as he ran his palm down the side of the creature's neck gently. It was strangely soothing. He could stay here forever, he thought, let days and nights pass him by in the clearing with these symbols of misfortune and death. Death had never scared Teddy, he’d been too impacted too young by its sting and had found himself oddly accepting of it. It happened, and it sucked, but it was to be revered not feared. A sense of calm washed over him. He was at peace here, next to the thestral he could not see 

Thunder suddenly boomed overhead, and lightning flashed across the sky. Teddy felt the thestral dart out of his reach, as he pulled his hand back as though burnt. It had started to rain, he hadn’t noticed.  
“C’mon Teddy, bes’ be getting back before it really starts coming down” Hagrid called to him, shouldering his crossbow and picking up the lamp once more. Teddy nodded mutely and clambered to his feet, eyes still hungrily searching the clearing as he followed Hagrid and Jack back to the castle. 

“We can take it from here Hagrid.” Jack said impishly as they crossed into the empty entrance hall.” we know our way around and everything now” This was, Teddy thought, something of an over exaggeration. If they didn’t have the map they’d still be clueless.  
The map.  
He didn’t have it.  
It wasn’t in Teddy’s pocket anymore.  
He shoved his hand in deeper, trying to quell the panic that had settled his chest like ice.  
“Yeah we’ll be fine Hagrid!” He choked out, attempting a grin.  
“Alright’ but straight to Hufflepuff wit ya, no dawdling and if you get caught again I’m letting Filch have ya” And with that Hagrid turned on his heel and plodded back down to his cabin.  
“C’mon then. I don't actually fancy our chances with Filch.”  
“Jack” Teddy said shakily, reaching to grasp his arm as he began to walk away. “ Jack, I don’t have the map “  
“We’ll be fine, if we see anyone we’ll just tell them we were in detention. Look at us, we’ve clearly been outside”  
“No, I mean, I don’t have the map. I don’t know where it is” His voice was several pitches higher than it should have been, his anxiety rooting him to the spot.  
“It’s probably in the dorm mate, c’mon we’ll find it” Jack said with a shrug.  
“No, No. I had it in the forest, it was in my pocket, I had it right there” His breath was catching in his throat as he fought back the tears that were burning the back of his eyes. He didn’t want to cry in front of Jack.  
“Crap,” Jack said finally. Somewhere in Teddy’s brain it registered that this may have been the closest to swearing Teddy had ever heard him come, but it scarcely mattered now.  
“I need to find it,” Teddy decided, turning back to the doors. Jack grabbed his arm.  
“You can’t right now Ted, I mean look at it out there. How are you going to find a piece of parchment in the dark in this?!” Thunder rolled menacingly overheard as thought to prove his point.  
“i’ve got to. It’s the only way I can speak to my dad. its -“ The tears were coming thick and fast now as the reality set in. “ stay here, I’ll go and find it.”  
“I’m not letting you go out there alone. Imagine Sprout comes to get me tomorrow to tell me you died in there and I’m like ah no I just let him go professor, she’d kill me.” He flashed Teddy a reassuring grin “Let's go find this map then.” 

They sprinted down the grass towards the forest, slipping and sliding on the mud as they went. The flashes of lightning were coming closer and closer together, illuminating the trees and casting terrible shadows on the floor. It was awfully dark in the forest without Hagrid’s lamp and though the incessant drumming of the rain drowned the noises of the creatures out,Teddy still knew they lurked in the bushes, waiting.  
“it’s got to be round here somewhere” he called as they searched. “ somewhere around here”  
What if it was ruined by the time he found it? What if he’d destroy all the Marauders’ hard work in one night? What on earth was he going to tell Harry?  
Teddy felt his legs speed up of their own accord, mud flying from behind him as his feet barely touched the floor.  
Nearly there, They were nearly at the clearing, nearly -  
Teddy felt his foot connect with the twisted root of an old oak tree and suddenly he was falling. There were, he realised, consequences to being like them. Lightning spiked across the sky, thunder clanged and a brilliant white light filled the clearing.  
Then Teddy Lupin saw no more.


	2. Chapter 2. Awake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go.

It had not been a good evening for Harry Potter. 11 years after the war the death eaters were still crawling from the woodwork, or rather they were being dragged from the woodwork kicking and screaming and taken straight to Azkaban. Of course, Azkaban these days was completely different to the Azkaban of old, after the abolishment of the dementors, but it was no more a cheery place. The dark and damp seemed unreachable, and misery seeped into every cell and corridor in the place. But at least the inmates weren’t likely to go mad anymore, most of the time. No, Kingsley had taken inspiration from muggle prisons he had seen throughout his work with the Prime Minister and revolutionised the wizarding prison system. People were released now, with a focus on rehabilitation and support. Not the Death Eaters however. Anyone found and convicted of aiding and abetting Voldemort had been thrown behind bars and left there to rot. So maybe not much had changed. Tonights capture had been Travers, much older than Harry remembered him… much quicker too. He had been expecting them, had been ready to pounce the moment he heard the sound of apparition on the wind. Indeed, If Harry hadn't given the wrong directions to a new recruit who managed to apprehend him at the back door, he may have slipped through their fingers entirely.   
Truth be told, Harry wasn't sure he was cut out to be the deputy of the auror office. He had been a fine auror, excellent in fact, as he had known he would be… but management? He had only been in the position 6 months, had turned it down the last time it had been offered as Ginny had been expecting Albus, but it was becoming increasingly clear that it was not his forte. The mountain of paperwork he had piled on his desk (and the floor, and the chair) spoke to that.   
That was where Harry Potter found himself at 11PM this Friday evening. Not with his wife and 3 young children, but slogging through pages and pages of protocol and forms, his arm aching and pride bruised. And now with Ron the stay at home father he had always wanted to be, there wasn't anyone he could appropriately bully for a cup of tea. Harry signed and rubbed a weary hand across his burning eyes. 4 more hours and he could leave. In 4 hours he could be snuggled up in his nice warm bed where no one could make him sign a single bloody form. He just had to wait until then.   
3.5 hours   
3 hours   
2.5 hours and as long there wasn't another crisis he’d be home.   
2 hours.   
Harry looked up from his paperwork as the brilliant white light of a patronus illuminated the room. Squinting slightly against the glare, Harry could make out the square marking round the cats eyes as it spoke in Minerva Mcgonagall’s voice.   
“ Harry Potter, your presence is required at Hogwarts. Now”   
Harry’s blood ran cold. A summon to Hogwarts could only mean one of 2 things - dark wizards or Teddy, and considering it was addressed to him alone it was likely to be the latter. Something had happened to Teddy.   
Grabbing his cloak from the hook by the door, Harry left the office, pausing only to explain that he had to leave urgently and Proudfoot was in charge if anything major happened.   
Then he sprinted into the lift and headed for Hogwarts. 

The ground was wet and squidgy beneath him.   
That was weird.   
No. The fact there was ground below him at all was far weirder. He had a vague notion that there definitely shouldn't be. There definitely shouldn’t be mud oozing through the gaps of his fingers or rain pounding against his face. Blimey, there was rain on his face.  
But as quickly as the notion of absurdity had come, it was gone and he lay there trying desperately to piece together exactly how he had ended face up on the mud.   
Perhaps it was Dolohov’s fault, maybe he caught him unaware. After nine months at home doing very little in the way of duelling, he had to confess that it wouldn't have been terribly difficult. But it seemed very quiet, despite the storm, and he was certain it hadn't been raining when the battle began. How long had he been lying here? Dora must be worried sick.   
But, no. he distinctly remembered something about trees, the memory was hazy and he could feel it slipping quickly from his grasp. He had been walking through trees, hadn’t he? No, not walking, gliding. What had he been doing gliding anywhere, who did he think he was?   
That was a good place to start actually. Who DID he think he was?   
He was Remus Lupin, wasn't he? Werewolf, husband to Nymphadora, father to Teddy. He was 38 years old. The last Marauder. Co-leader of the Order of the Phoenix and -   
No it was no good, he was going to have to get up. The wet had soaked through his trousers to his pants and he was growing more uncomfortable by the second.   
He opened his eyes slowly. There were trees above him again. Trees he recognised. With a sudden jolt,Remus realised where he was. He was still at Hogwarts.   
“What the fuck” Came a female voice from beside him. His heart sank. He should have known she would follow him, he knew it was unfair to ask her to stay behind to begin with. Still, he had hoped she would listen to reason for a change… or at least to him.   
“Dora?” He croaked. His voice felt even rawer than usual, and yet the hoarseness he had come accustomed to was missing. His eyes found hers through the sheets of rain between them as she sat bolt upright.   
“Remus?! Oh my god!” and with that she threw herself upon him, holding him tighter than she ever had before as he felt himself sink deeper into the mud below him. He could feel her arms shaking around him, but the rain washed her tears away before they had a chance to form. He pulled her closer to him.   
“Is anyone” came a clipped drawl from somewhere to his left “as confused as I am?”   
Remus and Tonks arms released each other at once. Remus felt the forest floor lurch from under him as he starred in the direction of the voice. He didn't understand.   
The rain was falling so heavily now that he could barely see a foot in front of his face, he had no way of seeing the owner of the voice. He knew it though. Of course he did, though he hadn't heard it in 2 years. It was Sirius Black’s.   
“ Er, yeah Pads I am” Came another man's voice over the roar of the wind. This time Remus could not stop his mouth dropping open in shock. He had forgotten, he thought. He had forgotten what James Potter had sounded like, the cockney undertones that didn't match his privileged upbringing, the confidence that seemed to seep into every word despite himself. It had been so long.   
Did this mean they were dead? Had they died, himself and Dora? Remus had never given much thought to the afterlife, even with all the losses he had suffered, but he hadn't imagined it would be so...wet.   
He could hear voices, hear the two men across the clearing but he couldn't get his eyes to focus, couldn't get his legs to corporate. Because they couldn't be there. Because people he helped bury did not suddenly decide to take a wander through the forbidden forest in the middle of a thunderstorm.   
“I don't understand” He mumbled to himself, reaching to grasp Tonks firmly by the arm. Even through the rain he could tell she looked different. Thinner perhaps, or closer to sicker - as she had looked before they were married, before she had fallen pregnant with Teddy. Her clothes, absolutely sodden, were different too. She had certainly not been wearing her regulation Auror cloak and ripped jeans when he saw her last. Her hair, at least, was the same. The vividest of bubblegum pink, darkened now as it hung limply in her eyes, stuck flat to her head as it dripped muddy water down the back of her neck.   
“Where are we?” She asked, her eyes roaming over the trees and the leaves strewn across his body. The rain was slowing down, it's pounding drops quieting to a steady patter on the canopy above.   
“Forbidden Forest.” He answered automatically. He still had hold of her arm, holding so tightly as though she may be torn away from him with the next breath.   
“Right …. why ?”   
Remus opened his mouth to respond,then closed it again. He had no answer to give.   
“Teddy?!” Came a small voice, carried to them through the wind. “Teddy where are you, this isn’t funny anymore!”   
Tonks ‘ eyes widened, almost comically, as she stared at Remus.   
“Teddy?!” A young boy came sprinting into their clearing. His eyes were red rimmed and his nose running. His hogwarts robes were caked with mud, the canary yellow hood tinged deep brown. He looked terrified to find himself alone in the forest in the dark. Then he stopped, his eyes focused on Remus and Tonks, and suddenly looked far more terrified to be in the forest with company. Perhaps not so dead then.   
“What…”   
But Remus was no longer paying attention to the boy, for behind him, several feet away lay a boy with a shock of turquoise hair.   
It registered,briefly, that that was the same colour Teddy’s hair had been the last time he said goodbye, and suddenly he had scrambled to his feet and was sprinting the short distance through the mud. Throwing himself down on his knees beside the boy,he turned him over slowly.   
He looked remarkably like Dora. Dora’s upturned nose and freckles, Dora’’s heart shaped face and widows peak and Remus knew without reason that if he opened his eyes the boy would peer up at him with Dora’s eyes. Except the boy wasn’t opening his eyes. Remus attempted to wipe the mud off the boy's face, his son's face, but all he managed was to smear it further down his pale cheeks.   
“I’m going to get Hagrid” The terrified boy in their midst turned on his heel and ran off.   
“Someone should -” and then a stag, as powerful as Remus remembered, was racing behind the boy. Somewhere inside Remus knew that he should be glad that someone was thinking about the child's safety, his own head was spinning alarmingly. He had eyes for no one but his son.   
Tonks reached to press a shaking hand to Teddy’s pulse point, counting each beat against her fingers softly under her breath. The sound calmed him. She had, he mused, always been better in a crisis than he. His mind was coming into focus now and with it the forest and it’s bizarre occupants.   
“He doesn’t look much like you, does he?” Sirius commented, coming to stand behind Remus, his voice full of fake bravado. “Lucky sod”   
Remus could do nothing but stare at the man, drinking in the sight of him. He was far younger than Remus remembered, his eyes free of the ghosts that haunted him through his last few years, the chill of Azkaban gone from his gaze. His hair was shorter too and dripped water down the front of his white t-shirt. He hadn’t been wearing that when he fell through the veil, Remus was sure.   
Lily Potter walked to stand beside them, and Remus let his eyes search her too. 21 Year old Lily Potter, here, not a day older than he remembered her. She was smiling gently, the corners of her mouth pulled up as her eyes roamed his body. She looked lost,and confused, and scared - they both did.   
It was impossible, completely and utterly impossible. He was clearly hallucinating, clearly losing his mind. But, as he watched Tonks smooth the hair of the 11 year old son before him, the son who had only an hour ago been 11 days old, he found he couldn't care less.   
What if they lost him, here in the forbidden forest. Here where Remus was unable to comprehend what was going on.   
“It’s alright Remus” Lily’s voice was low, her hand resting on his shoulder in the same way she had comforted him all those years before. She was surprisingly solid, he could feel the warmth of her palm radiating through the soaked layers of his robes. Lily seemed as alarmed at the contact as he did.   
“ I -”   
“Wait!” Sirius called. Remus’ head snapped up sharply and he watched Sirius stride purposefully over to a tree stump some distance away. “I’ve got it!” He held a sodden piece of parchment aloft as he made his way back to them.   
“Well?” A crash of thunder echoed through the night once more and Remus saw, rather than heard, Lily’s lips move.   
“It's alright, Hagrid’s coming” And so he was. No sooner had Sirius spoke did they hear the steady thud thud thud of Hagrid’s sturdy boots upon the ground.   
“Teddy?” Hagrid roared.   
“He’s here, Hagrid” Called Lily, shakily. Remus was grateful, his voice had apparently deserted him and as Hagrid sprinted towards them it was clear that he wasn't the only one.   
Hagrid stopped, stock still. His gaze travelled from Lily, as beautiful as she ever was, to Sirius with his thick dark hair slick back from his face by the rain as though he planned it, to Tonks, eyes alight with fear seemed to blaze in her pale face, to Remus himself, mud covered and shaking. Then he burst into tears. Great wailing sobs that cut through Remus’ swimming head like a dagger.   
“Teddy needs help Hagrid” Tonks screeched. If it had been any other time, if he thought he could ever find something funny again, Remus may have laughed. She never had had any patience for tears, even her own, what did he think death would change. Because that, he realised, was what had happened to him. And to her. They had died, he was nearly sure of that now. He was shocked to find that it didn't add any further clarity to the situation, what happened to the all seeing dead?   
Hagrid blinked at her, then he blinked again and, certain he wasn't seeing things, nodded his head slowly.   
“C’mon, Mcgonagalls on her way down” He shifted the metamorphmagus into his arms and ran back through the forest. The dead followed close behind. 

The stag was waiting impatiently for them at the edge of the trees, pawing anxiously at the ground as they approached. A lamp was bobbing its way down the stretch of grass towards them, its owner invisible in the fog and the dark.   
“I’ve got him Professor” Hagrid called “But you’re going to need to see this. I can’ believe it. Ne’er in all me life”. He gestured behind him with a nod of his great shaggy head then looked sharply down at Teddy, cradled to his chest.   
“Take him to the hospital wing Hagrid, Tell Poppy I’ll be there shortly.” Hagrid didn’t need telling twice, and turned to hurry up to the castle. “what do I need to see -”   
The Professor stopped short, just had Hagrid had done before her as the 5 of them emerged from the trees.   
“Good evening Minnie,” Sirius said. “Wouldn’t happen to know what’s going on, would you?”


	3. Overwhelmed

Madam Pomfrey was fussing over Teddy when they arrived. Ignoring the gasp of terror that came from the matron, Tonks sprinted to her son's side, Remus followed close behind. She had obviously dried him off as he came in, as his turquoise hair was vivid and fluffy against the stark white of the pillow.   
“Is he alright?”   
“Will he be alright?”  
They spoke together, their words tripping over themselves.   
“I...I don’t know,” Madam Pomfrey admitted, wide eyes fixated on the pair. “He should, in theory, be up and awake. There is nothing I can see that’s physically wrong with him”   
“Then why isn't he awake?” Remus inquired urgently.

Pomfreys eyes stray to Mcgonagall for reassurance, unable to meet Remus’ gaze.   
“You’re not seeing things Poppy, do go on” Mcgonagall’s voice was shaking as she strode purposefully towards them.   
Remus saw Lily and James share a significant look before they hung back in the doorway.   
“Yes...yes, there is nothing wrong with Edwards per se, except that I am unable to wake him.” Pomfrey waved her wand down the length of Teddy’s body, checking her diagnostics as she went. “Small bruise to the forehead with no evidence of a concussion, minor lacerations on the hands and knees. Heart rate and blood pressure are both textbook perfect… Hagrid said you found him in the forest?”   
She turned to Remus and Tonks, her shock dissolving into professionalism. It had always been a quality Remus admired of both the women before him.

“Yes” Tonks answered quickly.   
“How? How was he lying? what had he been doing? how long had he been there?"   
“He was lying face down in the mud, as though he had fallen” Remus began   
“But we weren’t … there...here... beforehand. I don't know how he got there” Tonks continued.   
Remus could feel her shaking beside him and reached for her hand. He was shaking too, could feel their combined tremors sending shocks up his arm, but it felt better this way - unified.   
“We don't know how long he was there for but I don't think it could have been very long, someone came to find him” Remus added

“Yes , Jack Turpin was with him,Poppy, he seemed shaken but completely unharmed. I sent him back to his dormitory, would you like me to fetch him?”  
“No, no, leave him.” Pomfrey looked down at Teddy once more.   
She waved her wand again, and again. Puffs of green smoke emerged from her wand and settled themselves over Teddy’s body, his head, his arms, his knees. Remus recognized the spell. He had been a regular to the hospital wing for many years and had been at the receiving end of many of Poppy Pomfrey’s diagnostic spells. It had never felt like this though. Never had the green smoke filled Remus lungs with stone, never had they caused such terror.   
But that was his son. His son who he hadn't been there for, who he had missed growing up.

He felt Tonks squeeze his hand, and held her own tighter.   
A puff of green smoke centralised itself in the middle of Teddy’s chest, rising and falling with each of his steady breaths. Then it turned blue. Remus waited for Pomfrey to say something, to exclaim she had discovered what was wrong. But she didn’t. Instead, the blood ran from her face startling quickly.   
“What on earth” She mumbled.  
“What?! What does that mean?” Tonk exclaimed, panicked.   
Madam Pomfrey ignored her and began to transfigure Teddy’s clothes. What had previously been Teddy’s outrageously muddy school robes was now a set of pale blue pyjamas, with buttons running the length of the shirt. It was these buttons that she ripped open with a flick of her wand, baring the boy's chest. She gave a gasp of horror.   
“What - “ Remus muttered, and then he starred.   
In the middle of the boy's pale chest was a stone, no bigger than a 50 pence piece, embedded in the skin. A circle inside a triangle, dissected with a jagged crack, was visible as the stone glowed faintly.   
“What the fuck is that?” Tonks asked, her grip upon Remus’ hand was near painful now, but he barely noticed so intent was he on Teddy’s chest.   
“It appears to be some sort of stone. It seems to..be quite…far in-“ Pomfrey’s hand brushed the stone softly as she inspected it and suddenly Tedy’s eyes were thrown open.   
He sat bolt upright, his eyes glued to Tonks and Remus.   
Remus daren’t breathe, as though once exhale would be enough to shatter the moment. He couldn’t think of a single thing to say to this boy, to his son. His mouth and brain seemed disconnected, possibly permanently. But he had been right, Dora’s eyes.

“Mum?” Teddy’s voice was barely a whisper “Dad?”   
“Wotcher Sweetheart” Tonks smiled at him just as softly, tears had begun to leak their way out of the corner of her eyes.   
“Are you…real? Are you really here?” Teddy seemed to mirror his feeling of complete disbelief. It was strangely comforting.   
“ I think so,” Remus said, finding his voice. “We’re solid at any rate, and personally I feel particularly real.” He tried to smile reassuringly at the boy, but his face was barely cooperating. He could feel his own eyes burning. “But we can worry about that later Teddy. More importantly, how are you feeling?”

Teddy looked as though he wanted to argue, wanted to demand answers now. Remus hoped he wouldn't, not when they had no answers to give. Teddy opened his mouth, then closed it with a wince.

“It hurts” He admitted, in a small voice   
“Where does it hurt, Lupin?” Mcgonagall asked. All three of them jumped, lost in their own bubble of agonising joy they had forgotten the two witches were even there. “Here” Teddy pointed to the stone, fingers brushing its smooth surface.   
Then he burst into tears. Immediately he was bundled into Tonks arms, his face pressed against her shoulder as he cried, his tears mixing with the rainwater that had drenched her clothes. The harder he cried, the tighter he seemed to hold. The tighter he held to his mother for the first time in his living memory, the harder he cried. Remus stoked his hair, as much to calm himself as Teddy, for any moment now he was sure he was going to join him sobbing into his wife’s shoulder.

“Shh, it’s alright Teddy. It’s all going to be alight” Tonks murmured into the boy's ear.“They’ll find a way to take it out. I’m sure they will”   
“No!” Teddy looked horror struck, pulling away from Tonks slightly he yelled “You… you can’t take it out. You can’t. You can’t” Then he grabbed Remus’ other wrist and, holding it to his chest as though frightened it would disappear in a puff of smoke, continued to cry. The 4 adults exchanged looks over Teddy’s head, looks of utter bemusement.

“Why not, Edward?” Asked Professor Mcgonagall, patiently.   
“You just can’t!” Teddy continued to sob. “Okay, okay Mr Lupin. I’m not going to touch it. Not right now. But I do need to look at it, I need to make sure it’s not going to cause you any harm, and then you need to rest.”   
Madam Pomfrey pulled out her wand and Tonks and Teddy disentangled themselves. Teddy still clasped hold of Tonks’ hand, Remus' hand still in his vibrant locks.

Satisfied that the stone wasn’t doing anything urgently awful to Teddy, Madam Pomfrey summoned a blue vial of dreamless sleep and pressed it into Teddy’s hands.   
He looked up at his parents fearfully, clearly frightened that this was all a dream and they would disappear with consciousness.   
“Drink it Teddy,” Remus said quietly. “We’ll talk more when you wake up”   
“Promise?” His voice was so small, so young, that Remus wanted to wrap him in his arms once more, assure him that they could talk all night if that’s what he wanted. “Promise” Remus and Tonks said together.   
As Teddy’s eyes drifted closed, Remus only hoped it wasn’t a lie.

* * *

James, Lily and Sirius had drawn back as Remus and Tonks rushed forward to meet their son.   
They didn’t speak for a long time.   
The silence stretched out before them, around them, between them in a way it never had before.   
It made James uncomfortable. But how could he fill it and what would he fill it with? He didn’t even know how long he’d been gone for.   
No, not gone for, dead. How long he’d been dead for. No wonder Sirius was quiet, was probably angry at him for getting himself killed at 21.  
Then again, Sirius and Remus couldn’t be much older. Indeed, he was sure that Sirius looked no different from the last time he saw him. Certainly not like any substantial amount of time had passed from his death to Sirius’. It was a horrible thought, but it comforted James somewhat. Even Remus, older at 15 than James ever reached, couldn’t be much older than 25. So there were little bits of grey flecked at his temples and the odd new scar added to the mix, but really nothing else to suggest he had lived longer than James.

But he had hadn’t he? James could remember snippets of a graveyard, of a forest, of a boy with his face. But the details were fuzzy, the contexts disappearing before they had a chance to form.

Where was his son? Where was Harry? Had Voldemort got him at last? Surely not. But then where was he?  
“Calm down Prongs” Sirius said in his ear. James had been blabbing out loud, he hadn’t noticed.   
“He’s alright, I think”   
“You think?” Lily snapped. “Great help”   
“Hear me out before you jump down my throat. If he’s alive, he’s got to be alright”   
“If he’s alive?” spluttered James, his hands balling into fists.  
“And he’s got to be alive. Because we’d… know, wouldn't we. If he wasn’t, we’d know” Sirius shrugged as a play of nonchalant, but his eyes scanned James’ face imploringly, almost hungrily. They both nodded. But it did nothing to subside the anxious knot working its way up James’ throat.   
“We have to find him.” he said  
“We have to wait for Mcgonagall” Sirius countered. “We’re supposed to be dead James, we can’t go wandering around right now. And times passed since I saw Harry, he’s older”  
“What do you mean?” Lily asked.   
“Well for a start that kid didn’t exist when I died.” Sirius jerked his head towards the boy on the bed and shrugged again. He trailed into silence.

Then, quite suddenly, he lunged at James, his arms wrapping around him with such force that James felt the air escape him all at once. Sirius buried his face into James' shoulder, as he had in the forest. He was babbling incoherently into the fabric.  
“I missed you. I missed you. I missed you so much James. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. it’s all my fault I know and I’m so fucking sorry” His words were a hiss, broken only by his anguished sobs as he clung to James as though his life depended on it. James didn’t know what to do, what to say. He caught Lily’s eyes over sirius’ shoulder, they were shining with tears.  
“Hug him back” she mouthed, aghast.   
Right yes, that would be a start. So James extracted his arms from under Sirius’ and held him back.   
“Not your fault” He said, squeezing his shoulders. “Alright mate, not your fault. No one blames you” James didn’t know what else to do. He had prided himself on always knowing how to help Sirius, how to calm him and comfort him. When Sirius opened up about his family, James sat up in their dormitory with him all night until both boys fell asleep on his bed. When his family became unbearable, James was there to get him out to a safe place and stop him from putting his fists through walls. When Sirius came out, when the war ramped up, when Regulus died, James had been there. He had known how to handle the fire that raged in Sirius.

But now? Now too much had happened and James realised that he must know only a small portion of it, could fathom only the tip of what must be a very very large iceberg. The idea that even Sirius had changed so much that he didn’t know how to reach him, when they had once been so inseparable, terrified him to the core. He drew back.   
“Alright?” He asked.  
Sirius looked as though he may never be alright again, but consented to wiping his eyes on the collar of his t-shirt and flashing James a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. It seemed to barely reach his face at all.  
“Always.” James’ stomach clenched guiltily. He shuffled to stand closer to Lily, slipping his hand into hers and scuffing her thumb softly with his own. She pulled her hand free and allowed it to fall limply at her side.   
Oh dear.

Desperate to escape the silence that had descended once more, as thick as pea soup, James turned his attention to the child currently sobbing at the other end of the room.   
“And that’s…?”   
“Teddy” Lily supplied quickly, her eyes following his.   
“Okay, and he’s…”  
“Remus’” Sirius answered, “By the looks of it”  
“Right. Right….bloody hell”   
Remus’ son. That was a wild concept. The Remus he had known had been adamantly against having children, of having any kind of future really.  
“Who is she?” Lily asked, watching the woman stroking Teddy’s back with her eyes screwed up in an effort not to cry.   
“Oh that Tonks”   
“Tonks?”  
“Tonks. I’d tell you her first name but I think we’re actually quite solid and I’m scared she’d rip my balls off”

“We _are_ solid, aren’t we?” Lily frowned down at her own hands as though she had never seen them before.   
“Yeah, look” James smacked the wall eagerly, slightly harder than he had planned. He winced as pain shot through his wrist “Ouch, feel pain too”.   
“So we’re alive?”

No-one answered her for a minute but stared around at the bright white lights that hung around the hospital wing, the crisp sheets and potion bottles that filled the cabinet at the back of the room.   
“Well, I don’t think the after life would look like the Hogwarts hospital wing” James said finally.   
“I dunno, I imagine Remus’ might” Sirius added, “But we’re alive, I know we are. As if death could hold the marauders”

It had, of course, and it was something they’d have to accept, James thought. But it was a nice idea all the same.   
“Yeah!” He said enthusiastically.  
“James, Lily. I’ve contacted Harry, he’s on his way” Mcgonagall came striding towards them.

In the light of the ward James thought she looked old, much older than he’d ever seen her. Because she _is_ , said a voice in his head, they _all_ are.   
“He’s…He’s not already here?” Lily asked. “At Hogwarts?”  
Mcgonagall looked startled. “Did I not tell you the year?”   
“No? We have no idea what year it is. We don’t know what’s going on!” James exclaimed angrily.   
He flashed Sirius an annoyed look. Teddy couldn’t be older than 12, so Harry shouldn’t be much older, right?   
“2009, James. It’s 2009. You have been dead for 28 years and now you’re standing in the middle of my school like this was a planned arrangement”

Oh right, her school. James had known that Dumbledore was dead, but couldn’t explain how he had known.   
“2009?!” Lily screeched. “Our son is 29 years old?”   
She slumped sideways into James, clutching the sodden fabric of his jumper in a fist.   
“Yes” Mcgonagall looked solemn “I’m very sorry, both of you. All of you”

A bright white light bloomed in their midst, as a stag patronus galloped towards them. “At the gates “ Was all it said, and then it was gone.   
Professor Mcgonagall excused herself, with the promise to as quick as possible, and left them.   
“Was that -“   
“Harry’s” Remus confirmed as himself and Tonks left Teddy’s bedside to join them by the doors. He was smiling slightly, proudly.   
“I need to sit down” Lily muttered faintly, throwing herself into the chair beside the closest bed.

“what the fuck do I say to my 29 year old son?! He couldn’t talk the last time I saw him” He had a feeling that that wasn’t true, but couldn’t understand why. James looked imploringly at Remus, he had, apparently, just done it after all. But Remus just shrugged. James could feel the panic rising hot and bubbly in his chest.   
This was too much. His infant son was now older than he was. Oh merlin, his son was older than him.   
“What if he thinks I’m an arsehole?” The question escaped his mouth before he could stop it.   
Remus and Sirius exchanged a look, the corners of their mouths twitching. James felt a surge of anger at the pair of them.   
“Nah, he’s been through that phrase” Sirius grinned.  
“Oh, good ….wait, what?”   
“Calm down James. It’s all going to be okay, you’ll work it out. Harry’s remarkably good at dealing with the absurd.” Remus smiled. It was a smile that seemed too old for his face. How old _was_ Remus? Surely he must be older than looked, considerably if Mcgonagall was to be believed.   
“There’s absurd and then there’s your dead parents coming to life 28 years after their deaths Remus!” Lily was back on her feet, as though her anxiety required perpetual motion. “How is that okay? In what world is that okay?”   
“Harry will meet his parents. The parents I can assure you he was looked up to and loved his entire life. How could that be anything other than okay?” Remus replied calmly.   
“He adores you now, and he’ll adore you when he meets you.” Sirius said softly.  
Lily nodded, as though she couldn’t quite believe it, and slipped her hand into James’.

* * *

“I’m sorry for asking you here at this hour Harry - “ Professor Mcgnagall started.   
“Is Teddy okay, had something happened to Teddy?” Harry’s coat was hanging limply off his shoulders, his face flushed from his run through the depths of the ministry. “Teddy is...well…” Mcgonagall gestured for Harry to follow her and he fell into step beside her, squinting through the rain on his glasses. “Teddy is currently unconscious in the hospital wing- “   
“What happened?”  
“He is, however, okay for the time being” Mcgonagall continued as though she had not heard Harry’s interruption.  
“For the time being?” “Yes.” Mcgonagall replied curtly “He may have to be transferred to St Mungos first thing tomorrow, but Poppy is certain that he is not in immediate danger, and it doesn’t appear to be causing -”  
“It?” He interrupted again as they approached the front steps.

“Teddy had something of an accident in the forest not too long ago, seems to have fallen on a stone that is now lodged inside his chest”   
“What?! That has to be removed right? Why haven’t you sent him St Mungos already?”  
“Because” She flicked her wand and the great wooden doors opened to the entrance hall “As I say, Poppy is certain that whilst somewhat distressing it is not an immediate threat to his health. He seemed quite upset about the prospect of it’s removal. It appears to be no ordinary stone at any rate, but what it is I - well each of my theories sound more absurd than the last. Poppy has given him a sleeping draught and we will evaluate the next course of action in the morning.”  
“Right. Right okay.” Harry felt his heart slowing down, no longer relentlessly drumming against his ribcage.   
“It was not why I asked you here Harry. Well, not in its entirety” Mcgonagall stopped on the landing and fixed him with a piercing stare.

She seemed to get more like Dumbledore by the day.   
“Professor?”   
“Something has happened. Something absolutely absurd and” She smiled at him “ and absolutely wonderful. When Teddy had his accident something else seemed to have happened. People who have - I warned you this was absurd Harry” She jerked her head and they carried on their way to the hospital wing.   
Harry was glad for the distraction as the trepidation threatened to engulf him.  
“Go on”   
“People who have been dead for… a while suddenly appeared in the forbidden forest alongside him”.  
Harry was silent for a moment as he mulled this over in his mind.   
It was impossible...wasn’t it?  
“Yeah I’d say that counts as absurd,Professor. Are you sure?”   
“Yes Mr Potter, I’m quite sure.” Harry winced.   
“Who? Not death eaters?”  
“No, not death eaters. I have checked thoroughly as we walked up from the forest, before you ask.”  
“Then who?”

Professor Mcgonagall fixed him with such a sad look, so solemn yet so full of barely contained joy. Then it hit him. He knew who had come back, who was currently sitting in the hospital wing. He willed his legs not to buckle, but needn’t bother. He found them moving faster against his will, and forced himself to keep pace with Professor Mcgonagall.   
This couldn’t be happening. He had been through some crazy things, but this was something else.   
“My parents” He whispered.   
“Yes, and Sirius Black and Remus and Nymphadora Lupin”   
Harry thought he might explode.   
It should be impossible to feel this much. Joy and sorrow and loss and doubt.   
Don’t get your hopes up, he told himself, no magic can bring back the dead. Hadn’t Dumbledore always said that? No magic could awaken the dead.There must be some mistake.  
“Ready?” Mcgonagall placed her hand on the Hospital Wing doors.  
Ready?  
Of course he _wasn’t_. _How_ could he be ready for something like this.   
Oh no, he was going to cry. No, he was going to be sick, he was going to faint.  
He’d never be ready for this -

\- Harry nodded.


	4. Embraced

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Take a shot everytime someone hugs or cries.

The heavy oaken doors swung open towards them, and Sirius watched with bated breath as his godson walked uncertainty into the room. His 29 year old godson, with stubble and the black trim of the deputy head of the department on his scarlett regulation robes. Gone was the 15 year old boy, with the hungry eyes and starving frame who he had failed to protect. In his place stood a man, straight back, proud and absolutely terrified. He looked around at them all in turn, his eyes as wide as galleons.

Sirius went to stride forwards and embrace him, but something on James’ face stopped him.  
Oh, Right.  
He should probably let his parents talk to him first, hug him before Sirius himself could.

Except James and Lily weren't speaking, haven't moved an inch since they’d heard voices outside the door. Tears were skating their way down Lily’s cheeks, shimmering in the lamp light. Indentica muscles jumped in James and Harry’ jaws.  
Weren't any of them going to speak?

Sirius exchanged a look with Remus over Tonks’ head. Remus shook his head ever so slightly, warning him not to interrupt. It was times like this that Sirius missed the timid 11 year old Remus used to be, he would never have told him what to do then. But Sirius acquitted, rolling his eyes slightly.

“Er...hi” Harry said at last “Bit odd this huh?”

“Yeah” James cleared his throat “Is a bit”

“Nice odd, good odd...but odd.. I mean- “ He looked to Sirius and Remus. “This is crazy right?”

“Right.” Sirius agreed, flashing him a grin as Remus nodded.

“I don't understand and …'' Harry trailed off, his eyes drifting back to Sirius and Remus and Tonks, as though looking at them hurt less. Which, Sirius reminded himself, it probably did. After all, Harry had met _them_ , spoken and laughed with _them_ , not his parents. A familiar guilt churned in the pit of Sirius’ stomach. He knew it was unfair that he had spent so many years with James and Harry so few. Unfair that he had spent two years getting to know his godson, when James and Lily had never heard him speak.  
But 2 years were not enough.

He knew it was unfair, could feel like the guilt gnawing brutally at his insides, but when Harry smiled shakily at him, the child he had been shining through for the briefest of moments. He suddenly couldn't stop himself. He strode the gap between them in 2 steps and wrapped his arms tightly around the man. Harry clung just as tightly back.

“I’ve...god I’ve missed you. I’m sorry Sirius”

“Don’t be stupid’ he said into Harry’s ear. His vision began to blur once more and he willed the tears back impatiently. “Know what I signed up for”

“Still.” Harry pulled back, wiping his face on the sleeve of his robes and fixing Remus with a piercing gaze.

“It’s good to see you” It appeared that for all his warnings, Remus was just as eager to hug Harry as he was for he pulled Harry into a fierce hug immediately.

“I never thought I’d see you again” Sirius heard Harry murmur softly.

“That is, generally, how death works, yes.” Remus replied. Harry gave a watery chuckle.

“ Apparently, not this time.”

“No, Not this time”  
Sirius watched the pair smile at each other before Remus squeezed Harry’s arm and nodded reassuringly. Harry nodded back and turned to James and Lily once more.

“I...I don’t know what to say,” James admitted weakly.

“Look at you… Oh look at you” Lily held forward cupping Harry’s cheek with a shaky hand “ My baby”  
She beamed at Harry, a smile so wide Sirius was sure it must be causing her physical pain. Her eyes, though brimming with love, were more anguished than ever. “My baby needs a shave”

“Yeah … I… busy day.” Harry croaked.

And suddenly they were hugging. Harry’s face buried in his mothers shoulder as though he was a child, Lily gripping him so tightly her fingers were white. She stretched out her hand beside her, blindly reached for James, pulling him into the fold. He wrapped his arms around them both, holding his family close.

And there they stood, the Potters, together again for the first time 28 years, shoulders shaking as they clung to each other.  
Sirius could feel his eyes burning and knew, this time, there was no holding back the tears. So he let them come, silently, as he watched the little family, his family, before drawing his eyes away.

He turned to Remus and Tonks, unsurprised to see the tracks down their own faces. They knew how this felt, didn't they, could grasp that feeling more than anyone else in the world as their son lay in the hospital bed behind them. He wanted to say something to distract himself from the grief and bitterness that seemed to be closing in on him, suffocatingly. But nothing seemed to hit the mark, nothing encapsulated how happy he was to see them again, how they’d been drinking in his kitchen only yesterday in his mind and now thy had a child and he was so confused, so angry, so -  
But he said none of it.  
Instead he said:

“Am I still a criminal?”

“You weren't when we died” Remus said, wiping a sleeve over his eyes.

“Why,did you do something else when we weren’t looking?” Tonks asked. Her voice sounded strangely fragile as though it could, _she_ could, break at any moment, nevertheless, she grinned at him. It was as infectious as it always was, he grinned back.

“You finally pulled your finger out then?” He asked Remus, nudging him with his elbow and nodded to the gold band of Remus’ wedding ring. Remus let out a breath that Sirius assumed was a laugh.

“Eventually.’” Tonks said, just as fragile as before.

“Good. Glad you didnt fuck it up.” He had meant it as a joke, a dig at Remus’ tragic relationship attempts from the past, but something akin to shame seemed to flash in Remus’ eyes.

“I did.” He said simply. Tonks smiled sadly at him and reached to take his hand, squeezing it reassuringly. Sirius decided he didn't want to ask.

“When did you… how long…” Sirius couldn't seem to find the words, it wasn't a question he thought he’d ever ask. “ When did you die?”

“1998.” They answered together. Sirius bit his lip. Their son couldn't have been older than one when they passed.  
Was history really this doomed to repeat itself?

“I believe.” Professor Mcgonagall cleared her throat from behind them as the Potters parted at last. “We need to discuss what is going on here.”

* * *

An hour later they were no closer to answers than they had been before, and Remus could feel the chill from the cold damp of his robes setting into his bones. He wished he’d thought to dry his robes earlier. It was making his hip ache. He fidgeted slightly in his seat beside Teddy’s bed, watching Tonks fight against the dropping of her eyelids.

“Take me through it again, Remus'' Mcgonagall asked. “What happened when you … woke up”  
Remus sighed wearily and sat more upright in his seat.

“It was like being pulled by something, like something was telling me I had to go. And then I was awake.”  
He saw James nodding in his peripheral vision.

“yeah , it kinda felt like I’d just been dreaming and then woke up on the floor.”

A crease had appeared between Tonks’ eyebrows, as she stared at the floor. Remus stroked the back of her hand with his gently. Her head shot up and she flashed him a small smile before resuming her inspection of the brick. Remus frowned, but said nothing.

“And what’s the last thing you remember before?”

“Trees.” Remus answered quickly, staring intently at Harry. He couldn't pinpoint exactly why it was so important to tell Harry this, could never explain what had happened amongst those trees. But the fragmented memories of trees had something to do with Harry, he was almost certain. Harry’s widened eyes and quick nod of understanding was enough to tell him he was right.

“The battle?” Tonks asked.

“Perhaps.” He said, squeezing her hand. He’d tell her later, he knew he would, but right now he couldn't find the words. She squeezed back lightly.

“I think I do too.” Lily said softly. “Remember the trees. How can I remember the trees, if you also remember the trees?”  
Remus felt his brow furrow, and saw Harry also frowning then frowned harder.

“Trees and graves,” James said. Lily nodded.

“Graves?” Sirius and Harry said together.

“Yeah a graveyard or something. Like I said it was like a dream”

“Well I’ve got the trees” Sirius said

“It’s like after life bingo.” Tonks muttered under her breath. Remus felt his mouth twitch. “I don’t remember anything. Just Bell...nothing”

“Did we all have the same dream?” James asked at large.

“Well we weren't actually asleep, we were dead weren’t we. So what...that’s the afterlife?” Sirius responded. “And that opens up all kinds of questions that I -”

“- How’s Teddy?” Harry asked sharply, looking from Mcgonagall, to Remus, to Tonks to Madam Pomfrey.

“Asleep. Heavily asleep.” Madam Pomfrey answered. “ I do think we should transfer him to St Mungos as soon as he wakes up. Get that stone out.”

“No!” Harry exclaimed, nearly rising from his seat in panic. “I need to see that stone...right now.”

“Potter the boy is asleep. It an ordinary stone”

But that wasn't right, Remus thought, whatever was embedded in Teddy’s chest, it was no ordinary stone, and he wanted it out as soon as possible.

“I’m sorry Poppy, but I need to see that stone.” Harry said, standing. Remus noticed him adjust his auror robes, straightening out their black trim ever so slightly. Remus fought the desire to laugh at the subtle power play. Madam Pomfrey looked him up and down and then sighed.

“Okay, but I am not waking him up. He was understandably distressed when he awoke earlier and needs his rest.”  
Harry opened a button on Teddy’s striped pyjamas, just enough to show the stone. It glowed faintly against the pale skin of Teddy’s chest.

“Fucking hell.” Harry said as he peered down at it. “ I know what this is” He looked at Remus and Tonks. “ I know what that stone is, and it can't come out, not yet. I need to contact Kingsley. He needs to know about this, and before Teddy gets taken to hospital. If he doesn't need urgent care now, he’s alright until we’ve spoken about this, right? Is he in pain? Can it wait? I’ll contact Kingsley now and -”

“-Tomorrow. Contact Minister Shacklebolt tomorrow morning.” Mcgonagall’s eyes roved over Lily, curled up in her chair, Tonks’ heavy eyelids, Remus’ leg that shook despite himself. “Edward is not in immediate danger, nor extensive pain, correct Poppy?”  
Madam Pomfrey nodded reluctantly.  
“Then we put this conversation on hold until the morning when everyone is able to think straight.”  
She peered around at them all and Remus had the sudden sense of being 15 again. He had a strange desire to apologise for the non-existent dungbombs in his pocket. Nevertheless he nodded, as the other did.  
“We just need to find a safe place for you all to stay.”

* * *

A safe place, it turned out, was 12 Grimmauld Place. Just as dank and dark as Remus remembered. The wall paper was peeling from the hall worse than ever and the cobwebs appeared to be taking over corner by corner. As it always had been, the silence was crushing. Remus followed behind James as they traipsed into the house, Sirius dragging his feet more than Remus thought a 36 year old man could really get away with. He didn't blame him.

“Dora mind the-”  
CRASH.  
“-Umbrella stand.”  
As he had expected, Tonks lay sprawled on the floor behind him, coughing in the cloud of dust that had exploded around her. On cue, Mrs Black began to scream.

“Stupid bloody umbrella stand. You couldn't have moved it?” Tonks kissed as Harry ran forward to close the curtains in front of the portrait. “Stupid place to put it anyway.”

“To be fair Tonks.” Remus whispered back, helping her off the floor. “It’s always in the same place. You can't blame the thing for your failure to grasp the concept of object permanence.”

“I can and I will,” Tonks said with a shrug.  
Being back in this house, as cold and miserable as it was, brought back memories of his and Tonks’ meeting. Those dark nights spent talking over hot chocolate, falling in love with the way she looked doused in firelight, whilst the war became ever more insidious outside. It felt like a lifetime ago. It _was_ a lifetime ago. He smiled softly back at her.

“Home sweet fucking home.” Sirius growled as they made their way down to the kitchen.

"It wont be for long Sirius." Harry said, looking over his shoulder. "I promise it wont be for long." 

“You grew up here?”Lily asked, peering around. “It’s ….lovely”

“No . No it's not.” Sirius replied.

“No, it’s not. But it does explain a lot” Lily smiled at him.

“It was relatively… well not so disgusting when Kreacher was alive. But he passed away about 4 years ago and no ones been in since” Harry said. “So don’t touch the walls. There's probably things living in them.”

“You got Kreacher to clean?” Sirius asked.

“Somehow. It’s a long story really.” Harry checked his watch, then swore. “ Sorry I’ll be back in a minute.”  
He took the steps two at a time, and vanished back into the hall.

“What was that about?” James asked.

“Contacting his wife?” Tonks said with a yawn.

“He’s married?! How’d you work that out?” Sirius asked.

“Wedding ring” she shrugged.

“Who do you reckon it is?”

“My moneys on Ginny” Tonks replied.

“Weasley? Little Ginny Weasley who plays with cats and throws dung bombs at the doors. No way. They weren't a thing”

“Probably not so little anymore.” Remus reasoned. “And they were when we died. In a sense”

“No way” Sirius shook his head.

“5 galleons says it's Ginny” Tonks said.

“Deal”  
Remus would never admit it to him, but he’d missed Sirius’ pig headed willingness to enter any bet. Even if he was likely to lose. Sometimes especially if he was likely to lose. He looked around at them all then, the people who meant the most to him in the world gathered there in one room. Alive. All of them seemingly alive. Flesh and blood and pounding heart. He’d missed them all so much he thought he’d burst. James' hand found its way into his hair, messing it up further than it already was. A simple gesture, one that Remus must have seen thousands of times before, but it took his breath away.

“Moons, you alright?” James asked, meeting his eyes across the room.

“Yes. Yes I’m fine” Remus smiled weakly, trying to ignore the stab of pain that flashed through his heart at the nickname. He wanted to hug them all, hold them tight so they could never leave him again. But he was struck with the terror of reaching for them and having them slip through his fingers, completely disappear like they had so many times before in his dreams. Where was the proof that this _wasn't_ a dream? After all people didn't just come back to life, he _wouldn't_ just come back to life. He shuffled subconsciously closer to Tonks, hoping to gain comfort from her body heat.

“You look like someone died Remus, don't give me fine.” James’ statement hung in the air as the truth of his statement seemed to dawn on all of them.

“Someone did die James. All three of you. I woke up one day and none of you were there. And then everyday thereafter you continued to not be there.” He turned to Sirius. “ I watched you die! And you’re all just standing there like this fine and not at all weird or wrong. And I’ve missed you okay. I missed you.”

“Remus-”

“I’m sorry.” He could hear Harry’s footsteps on the stairs behind him and decided he needed to end this conversation before the overwhelming urge to sob over took him. He’d had far too many breakdowns in front of Harry for this liking.

“Come here.” James said, stepping towards him with his arms outstretched Remus hesitated, weighing the pros and cons of taking the risk to shatter the illusion, then obligingly pulled James into a tight hug.

“I missed you too mate”

“You didn't even notice time had passed, how could you miss me?”

“Well if I had, then I’d have missed you.” Remus let out a watery chuckle before releasing James.  
As soon as James had stepped away, Lily had slipped between them and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Hi.” she murmured

“Hi” He said, against her hair.

“I think you’re wrong.” She said. “I think we were there, in some way … Not much help in hindsight though is it?”

“Not really.” He admitted as he withdrew. “It's a nice thought though, or a horrifying one depending on what you’ve seen”  
Lily slapped him gently on the arm, the solid weight of her hand slowing the drumming of his heart.

“Oh perfect I’ve missed that too”

“Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit Remus” Sirius said.

“You’re the lowest form of wit”

“Your face is the lowest of wit”  
They grinned at each, then threw their arms around each other's shoulders. Remus closed his eyes against the image of Sirius falling through that veil that had decided to play out in his mind.

“I’m sorry I left as well Moony.” Sirius said, so quietly Remus thought he may have imagined it. But it didn't matter.

“Fuck.” He hissed. Then the tears came. He clung to Sirius tightly in a bid to allay the sobs that rocked his body but to no avail.

“It’s alright Moons, you’re alright” James wrapped his arms around them both.  
Suddenly Remus was 12 again in their dormitory and they were telling him they didn't care about his lycanthropy, he was sure that if he pulled back now Sirius would ask him if he’d ever licked his own balls.  
He huffed a laugh to himself and let his arms fall to his sides.

“What?” James asked.

“Fucking weird.” Remus responded.

“Good to see you two haven't grown up.” Lily said looking from Remus to Sirius.

“I resent that,” Sirius said.

“Thought you might. But you’re always like that. Whereas Remus is a perfectly normal person until he’s with either of you”

“I object to that” Remus wiped his eyes roughly.

“I object to ‘perfectly normal person’.” Tonks said. “Hi, I’m Tonks”.  
She stuck her hand out towards Lily, with a smile.  
He hadn't seen this coming, never thought he’d have to introduce his wife to his friends and now that this moment he had come he was desperate for them to like each other. Lily took Tonks’ hand, then seemed to change her mind and pulled Tonks in for a hug too.

“I’ve got to run home.” Harry started. “will you be alright if I leave you here?”

“I’m sure we’ll manage,” Remus replied.

“I’ll be back at 8? I’ll bring food and contact Kingsley.”  
Harry hugged them all again, looked back in disbelief and left.

“Bed?” Sirius asked.

* * *

“This is crazy. totally and completely crazy.I feel like its just hit me, like I can only just think about it because what the fuck is going on?” The words left Tonks’ mouth in a furry. “What the fuck is going on Remus?”  
They were sitting on the rest of the double bed in the bedroom that Remus had stayed in the year he lived here. Both starred at the blank wall opposite them, starring but not seeing.

“I honestly have no idea.”

“Because shit like this doesn't happen.”

“No, it doesn't”

“So why are we here” She threw herself backwards onto the bed, he lowered himself down beside her, feeling the bumpy springs under his back. “We died, Remus” Tonks’ voice was small, barely a whisper. “We died”  
He pulled her arm closer so that her head rested against his chest, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“We did.” They fell into silence for a long while.

“I’m not sorry for going. To the battle. Is that awful?”

“No.” Remus replied. “I should never had asked you to stay home”

“You dont… you dont hate me?” Remus sat up sharply, staring down at her.

“No’ He said slightly more forcefully than he had expected. “Never.” He sighed. “I’m not going to lie to you Dora. I wished you’d stayed at home. I wished you stayed with Teddy. But” She nodded at him, pleading with her eyes for him to go on. He layed back down beside her. “But I understand why you had to go. I do. You’d trained for that night your entire life.”

“Fat lot of good it did.” Remus smiled grimly.

“And if you hadn't have gone, the guilt would have eaten you from the inside out. I know that Dora. I knew that the second I asked you to stay. If anyone got hurt and you hadn't tried everything you could you wouldn't be able to live with yourself” He turned his head and looked down at her. “How could I hate you for that?”  
Remus shuffled down the bed to lay face to face with her. He wiped the single tear from Tonks’ face with the pad of his thumb. He waited for her to speak, to tell him why she had been frowning earlier when discussing what they had seen. He wanted to ask how she died, who did it. But looking at the pain in her eyes he didnt dare. That conversation could wait. 

“I love you.” She croaked out.

“I love you too. I’m going to risk the bathroom.” He kissed her on the forehead and climbed off the bed.

“Good luck. Watch out for ghouls”

“I’ll be constantly vigilant.”

He washed his hands in the sink, holding his wand in his mouth as he shot water from it onto his hands. He decided he didn’t have the nerve to risk the running water and what might have been living in the pipes. Taking the wand from his mouth he looked up at his reflection. And then dropped his wand. The lines he had become accustomed to around his eyes, on his brow, were…gone? The grey in his hair had gone back to its original brown, its curls more apparent than they had been in years. He looked…young?

“Dora?” He called bursting into the room.

“yeah?”

"You didn’t think to tell me I looked completely different?”

“You saw Sirius right? I presumed you’d have just guessed!”

“ You could have said something!”

“Oh no you’re right. We’ve been dead for 11 years and the first thing we should have discussed is what dye you’ve used to achieve full grey coverage.” He glared at her. “Your voice is slightly different too” she added as an afterthought.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Less…hoarse”

“Oh. sorry.” Tonks laughed. “No it’s sexy” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Not that your normal voice wasn’t sexy before obviously” she kissed him.

“Well thank you.. It’s odd though isn’t it”

“oh yeah, totally weird.” Tonks flopped back down on the bed. “Hey we look the same age now!”

“oh ha ha.” They clambered under the faded covers. “we should sleep.”

“yeah. Think you’ll be able to?”

“After this evening? after going from that battle to waking straight up 11 years later?” He pondered.

“Yep”

“No, you?”

“Doubtful.” Remus waved his hand and plunged them into darkness. “y’know, we first slept together in this bed.”

“Yes I am aware,” He replied.

“Feels like forever ago, doesn’t it.” Tonks murmured as she snaked her hands around his waist.

“It does.” He agreed.

“Our son is 11, Remus. He’s 11 and he’s alone in the hospital wing with a stone stuck in his chest. stuck in his chest. And we haven’t been here. We’re not even there now.”

“we weren’t” He agreed again, feeling that burning in his throat again. He was completely drained. “We’ll figure this out Dora”.

She nodded against his chest, but he could feel her tears on the bare skin of his chest. He stroked her hair as she cried, until her eyes fell shut and the sobs gave way to sleep.


	5. Dreamt

The walls of Hogwarts were crumbling to dust around him.  
Plumes of smoke rising like towers into the air. Brick after brick shattered, exploded, destroyed.   
The safest place in the world, the safest place in his world, is going up in flames, fire lapping at his heels as he runs.   
Flashes of light.   
Spells firing left and right, bouncing off the floor and walls and the ceiling, meeting their mark.   
Sprinting through the grounds, arms pumping furiously as he tells himself he can’t die now, not when he finally had something to live for. Students he had taught follow him hot on his heels as though he can protect them with sheer force of will.   
Colin Creevey’s body hits the floor, with a thud that echoes for a lifetime.   
Dolohov’s smile is like a shard of glass. 

A scream wakes him, high and pained and anguished. Remus' hand shoots out for his wand, left under the pillow in a fit of paranoia that has never left him, snatching it up as he leaps out of bed. But as his feet connect with the ice cold of the floorboards and his brain kicks into gear he sees it’s not a death eater, nor someone else out for their blood. But his wife, more frightened than he has ever seen her before. 

Tonks is tangled in the bed sheets that have wrapped themselves like ropes around her legs, a layer of sweat shines on her brow as she kicks with all she has against an assailant he cannot see. Her hair is no longer bubble pink, nor the moussey brown it occasionally faded too. Instead black ringlets cascaded against the pillow, knotted and wild. 

Tonks screamed again and the noise cut through Remus’ head like a knife. He could hear footsteps on the stairs and movement in the other room. 

“Dora, Dora wake up” Remus grabbed Tonks’ shoulders, shaking her roughly. She only kicked out harder in response, sobs rising from her throat as he tried to restrain her. The door crashed open behind him,but he didn't take his eyes off of her. “C’mon Dora, It’s okay, you’re okay.” Her hands came to push him away, pummelling her fists against his chest as her eyes flashed open. Bellatrix Lestranges eyes looked back at him. Awake but not yet aware. A bony fist connected with his jaw and he reeled back from her in shock. The gasp of horror told Remus that the room had come back into focus for her. 

Sirius, James and Lily had sprinted into the room, and stopped. Remus paid them no mind, pulling Tonks into his arms as her eyes changed slowly into her own, cold grey replaced with deep brown. 

“You’re okay, just a dream. Just a dream” He murmured. 

“It’s not.” She sobbed into his chest. She held onto his arms tight, her nails digging sharply into the flesh. He could taste her hair, still black and unruly, in his mouth. 

“It is now,” He replied. Remus caught Sirius’ eye across the room and raised his eyebrows. Sirius nodded his understanding and gestured for James and Lily to leave the room with him, they followed obligingly. He only hoped they’d find somewhere out of earshot before discussing what they’d seen. Or else go straight back to bed and ignore it entirely.   
He held her for a while, trying to ignore the throbbing of his jaw as he considered how to broach the subject. 

“Did I.. hit you?” Tonks asked breaking the silence before he could and pulling back to look up at him. For a second he considered lying, what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her and he could see the guilt already swimming in her eyes. But he knew that a bruise must be blooming in the place she struck, and, come morning, he would not be able to hide it from her. For someone so small she packed on hell of a punch. He had always known this but didn't expect to have to experience it first hand. 

He sighed. 

“Yes.” He said, her face twisted into one of abject horror. “I’m okay!” 

“What do you mean you’re okay. I just smacked you in the face. Oh god I smacked you in the face.” She pulled away from him completely and let her eyes trace his face. “I’m so sorry.” 

“I’m fine. Honestly.” 

“Here?” she pressed her fingers gently against the red mark on his jaw. He nodded and shrugged at the same time, trying to convey as much nonchalance as possible. 

“It’s going to bruise.” Tonks said. “I’ve bruised you! Back a day and I’ve hit you so hard I’ve bruised you” 

“I’ve been bruised by worse.” he told her. He took the hand that rested against his cheek in his own and pressed his lips against it gently. “And bruised worse”. She raised her eyebrows at him. “You’re also forgetting I bruise like a peach. You didn't hit me that hard, and I do not for one second think you did it on purpose.” He leaned against the wall behind the bed, pulling her tight against him. 

“Not really the point though is it?” She said disgruntled, but she settled against his side nonetheless. “ I am sorry” 

“I know”. They lapsed into silence again. “Must have been some dream.” 

“I… yeah” 

“Can we talk about it?” 

“It’s fine I don't even remember what it was about” Tonks said with an air of disinterest. He may have accepted it, if it wasn't for the cracks and shakes in her voice. 

“Bellatrix?” He offered. 

“What?” She stilled. He held a strand of her black hair up for her inspection and said nothing. She stared at it as though betrayed by her own hair, then gave an angry huff and the strand slipped through Remus’ fingers and her hair returned to short and spiky. 

“Can we talk about it?” He tried again. 

“It was nothing.” 

“Dora anything, real or not, that makes you scream like that is not nothing.” She glared at him, shuffling out of his arms. 

“It. Was.Nothing.” 

“Dora-” 

“No.” 

“Can’t we just talk about this?” Remus pleaded. “What happened to you? At hogwarts?” 

“Nothing.” she rolled over, so he was talking to her back. 

“Tonks come on.” 

“Nothing, Remus. I turned up and I died okay. That's it, nothing else to it. End of story.” 

“I know that's not it Dora.” 

“YOU WERE ALREADY DEAD!” She had turned back to him, eyes blazing. “HOW WOULD YOU KNOW?” 

The silence that descended then was deafening in its completeness. It seemed to fill every available space in the room, replacing the oxygen with nothingness until Remus felt like he was gasping for breath. Neither of them moved for a long while. 

“Dora I - “ Remus started weakly. 

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Tonks said imploringly. “Not tonight.” Remus continued to gaze at her, searching her face for the correct response, his brain working overtime to find the solution. “Please Remus.”   
Feeling as though he really shouldn't, he nodded. 

“Thank you” Tonks breathed. He tried to form words but they seem to get stuck to the lump in his throat. He nodded. “Go back to sleep.” 

She rolled away from him again as he slid back into bed and pulled the covers up over the both of them. 

Tonks lay there, staring at the shadows on the wall opposite with wide eyes. Every fiber of her being called out for sleep and her muscles ached like hell. Still she wouldn't give in to the desire. If she fell asleep she’d relive it, the battle. She’d have to watch it all _again_ , have to kiss her baby goodbye _again_ and leave him for 11 years. Her aunt's face seemed to float in the darkness before her, taunting her. When she closed her eyes, even for the briefest of moments the image seemed to grow stronger so she kept them open despite the burning of exhaustion. 

She waited until Remus’ breath had become slow and deep behind her. He’d rolled towards her in his sleep and she could feel each exhale on the back of her neck. She slipped as quietly as she could from the bed, turning to pull the covers back over Remus. 

“Mm?” He murmured sleepily, raising his head to look at her. 

“Shhh. Go back to sleep.” He nodded drowsily and closed his eyes again, burrowing further into the pillows. She kissed him gently on the forehead. 

Pulling her wand from under her pillow, a habit she had caught from Remus and continued to do purely to imagine the look of horror on Mad-eyes face, she transfigured her auror robes that were currently in a pile on the floor into a leather jacket before pulling on the clothes from the night before. She grabbed her heavy boots from beside the bed, pulling them on roughly before snatching up the jacket and tiptoeing to the door. 

Given that the sun had not risen, she decided that it was probably too early for a whiskey, and that it wouldn't do to talk to her son properly for the first time stinking of brewery. So she set off to the drawing room to check the sofa for loose change. She’d get coffee and then she’d feel fine again. 

The benefits of staying in a house that used to belong to a family of incredibly wealthy pureblood maniacs and later the head quarters of an extremely ramshackle organisation was that money could, if you tried hard enough, be found nearly everywhere. In the first case because they had an excess of it, the latter because many members of the order were likely to put things down and forget where they put it. Particularly her. As expected, Tonks found a couple of muggle looking coins,an extendable ear,and something that may have once been one of Fred and George’s ton tonne toffees but now resembled a small furball down the back of the sofa and a rather important looking series of notes, which appeared to belong to Remus, and a couple of sickles,which she presumed _didn't_ , down the back of the armchair in the library. 

Satisfied that her findings would be enough to buy her coffee from somewhere, Tonks morphed her nose longer and widened her cheeks and jaw line until nothing remained of her heart shaped face. Her hair, now a platinum blonde, fell out down to her lower back. She tiptoed down the stairs and, bypassing the umbrella stand with uncharacteristic ease, opened the door and stepped out into the chilly October air. Not much had changed, she thought, at least not at 6am in the morning. Yet Grimmauld Place and the square that surrounded it looked more run down than ever. The grey scale of the buildings had faded further in the 12 years since she’d seen them last and the pavement was cracked and crumbling. The gate that had secured the square at night hung off its hinges as though someone had kicked it in. As she crossed the square, Tonks noticed that the various bins dotted throughout had been graffitied with a plethora of curse words. 

The corner shop she had frequented often when headquarters had still been in London still stood at the end of the street, it’s lights flickering invitingly. The sign was exactly the same as it had always been, as though the owners had purposefully kept it as battered as it was, never more never less. 

“Morning” The man behind the counter yawned as she stepped inside. He was the same too, just as grey and tired. She’d always told Remus that time didn't exist in corner shops. 

“Wotcher.” She replied, eyes scanning the tiny shop quickly. He’d changed the stores layout. “Where’s your coffee?” 

“2nd isle, over there.” He indicated with his head, then rested it back on his hand. 

“Cheers.” She slipped through the isles, picked up the cheapest jar of coffee and smallest milk she could and walked back to the counter. 

“Long night?” The man asked, scratching his greying beard with one absentminded finger as he scanned the items. 

“Huh?” 

“You look knackered, Long night?” 

“Oh yeah,Something like that.” She said, dropping the muggles coins she’d found on the counter, thanking him and leaving quickly. 

  
  
  


She was sitting at the kitchen table, hands curled around a mug, when James trapsed in, blurry eyed and tussle haired 20 minutes later. She had found her old “I hate work” mug at the back of the kitchen cupboard, it’s handle had broken off and the rim was chipped but a simple reparo had repaired it to a usable level. 

“Wotcher.” Tonks said, raising her eyes from the inspection of the table in front of her as he walked in. He jumped a foot in the air, reaching for his wand. 

“Who are you?” He demanded, pointing the wand directly at her. “How did you get in here?” 

“Oh right.” she muttered and, scrunching up her nose in concentration, felt her features return to normal and her hair resort to pink. She’d kept it long. 

“What the fuck.” James hadn’t lowered his wand, still pointing it threateningly. She noticed the tip shaking slightly, his grip slightly too tight. He really was very young. 

“Metamorphmagus.” She said gesturing to herself. 

“What?” 

“I’m a metamorphmagus… y’know change my appearance at will.” 

“No way.” James pulled out the chair opposite her and threw himself down into it. 

“Yeah.” she took a sip of her coffee. Then morphed her face to match his, taking note as she did so the small ways he differed from Harry. 

“Oh that's weird.” James laughed. “So what, you can just change however you like, whenever you like? Not like transfiguration but just naturally?” 

“Yup. However and whenever I like. Or sometimes even when I don't like, it kinda does it’s own thing sometimes” She grinned at him. 

“So you really did have black hair earlier, I thought I was seeing things.” The smile slid off Tonks' face. But James didn't seem to notice he’d said anything wrong. “You know because it was so early.” 

“er ...yeah, yeah I did.” She sipped her coffee to give herself something to do with her hands. They fell into awkward silence. 

“Sorry I shouldn't have brought that up.” James said at last. “Sorry, it’s early and I’m not thinking straight.” 

“Nah you’re fine. Shouldn't scream in my sleep if I don't want people to bring it up,aye.” She shrugged as nonchalantly as possible, trying to ignore the crease that had appeared between James’ eyebrows. “Oh do you want coffee?” She jumped up, knocking her seat onto the floor in her haste to escape the conversation. 

“You found that in this place and still decided to drink it?” He eyed her mug suspiciously. 

“Well no, I’m not that stupid. I found money down the back of the sofa upstairs and went and bought it like half an hour ago. Do you want some?” 

“We were definitely told not to leave” James grinned mischievously at her. 

“Hence to the whole different face thing you walked in on.” She smirked. “And anyway coffee is an emergency. Have you ever tried to talk to Remus in the morning without coffee?” 

“Moony can talk troll quite fluently between the hours of 7-10” James nodded sagely. 

“So want some or not?” 

“Go on then. If there's not things living in it” 

“I’m making no promises” She tapped her wand against the kettle on the stove, as the water inside started to bubble. “Any particular preference on mugs? There's this lovely pink one...I think this used to be Molly’s I doubt it was Walburga’s, or one with a couple of hippogriffs... oh no this ones got things growing in it.” 

“Disgusting” 

“What about this one that says ‘I’m an eeper?’ …. I think it must have been ‘keeper’ at one point” she put the mug down on the side, and shot a cleaning spell at it. Then, not trusting herself the first time, did it again. 

“That bad?” James asked, quirking an eyebrow at her. 

“Nah, I’m just naff at cleaning spells. Don't imagine people would be too pleased if I managed to poison you within 12 hours of you coming back to life.” she put the coffee down in front of him, splashing some of it on the table in the process. 

“Back to life.” James muttered with a shake of his head. “ As crazy for you as it is for us?” 

“Completely.” She answered with a small smile. They drifted into silence. Tonks hated silence, usually it made her skin crawl and she had an innate desire to fill any quiet with babble - but she didn't. 

“You’re up early,” James said after a while. She breathed a sigh of relief, he seemed as uncomfortable with the quiet as she did. 

“So are you” She countered. 

“I said it first.” She laughed and clutched the coffee cup closer to her chest. “Where’s Remus anyway?” 

“Still in bed. Or he was when I left it.” 

“And you and Remus are...married?” 

“Yup.” 

“Mental.” James shook his head. “Remus married. How’d you manage that?” Tonks raised her eyebrow at him. “Not how’d you manage to get Remus, I’m sure you’re great and he’s great and I’m sure it's great” He babbled quickly “ I meant how’d you convince Mr I’m-going-to-die-alone to get married?” 

“Perseverance.” Tonks smirked. “A whole heap of it actually.” 

“Oh yeah I imagine. He was always pretty set on the fact that it wouldn’t happen to him. Marriage, I mean.” 

“Yeah he was when he met me too.” she shrugged. “Was his idea though” 

They fell back into comfortable silence. 

“How are you holding up? You and Lily? with this whole…situation” Tonks asked. James sighed heavily and reached to push his hair back out of his eyes. 

“Not well.” He sipped his coffee, taking his time to swallow as if to delay the inevitable answer. “Barely slept at all.” 

“Sorry.” She said. 

“No, not your fault. We were just lying there. Like we couldn’t talk about it because then it’d be real and we’d have to deal with it. And it feels like we haven’t got enough information to talk about it.” he trailed off. Or at least that’s how I feel about it. We cried a bit about it, obviously.” 

“Obviously” She inclined her head in agreement thinking of the tears she had spilled onto Remus’ waiting shoulder a few hours previously. 

“I feel like Lily wanted to talk about it, talk about how she feels about it and what we do with it, she’s always been better about this stuff than me but I… I just couldn’t. I know it sounds harsh but -“ 

“No I feel exactly the same.” Tonks swirled the dregs of her coffee around the mug. “I can admit to what happened but no matter how many times I say it... it doesn’t help, there’s no sudden solution to make it stop feeling like this I guess” 

“Nah I guess not...doesn’t stop me wanting there to be. I think Sirius wanted to talk about it as well and I just...can’t.” He sighed again. “Lily’s just so much better at this stuff than I am.” 

“Remus and I are about as bad as each other.”

“So give you half a chance and you’ll never say another word about it?”

“Bullseye.” She said. James breathed a laugh as he ran his hand over his face. 

“How weird is it that you Harry have the same face? Like the exact same face” Tonks asked, even to her ears it felt like a pathetic way to change the subject, as if bringing up his infant who was now in his late 20’s was going to make anything better. 

“Not as weird as the fact he’s 29. How weird is it that Teddy seems to have your exact face?” 

“Not as weird as the fact he’s 11.” She replied “and he can morph so he could have done that anyway”   
  


The door swung open and Sirius sauntered into the room. His hair fell just as carelessly and flawlessly as it always did and, true to form, he looked as though he had had an entire night's sleep - opposed to the 3 hours she knew he must have had. It really wasn’t fair,she thought, they shared genetics, why couldn't they share that one too?

“Morning.” James and Sirius said at the same time, and then beamed at each other.

“Wotcher” 

“Thought I heard voices down here. Where’d you get that from?” Sirius nodded to their mugs. 

“Gary’s.” 

“Ha! Did he recognise you as the girl who spilt an entire kegs worth of beer over his floor?” Tonks felt the blush rise up her cheeks and crossed her arms over her chest petulantly. 

“No! Never should have let Remus tell you about that.” 

“As though you could have stopped him.” 

“We both know that I could.” Tonks winked at him, Sirius let out his trademark dog-like bark of a laugh that seemed to clear away the cobwebs in the room for a moment.  
She’d missed him. It wasn’t something she found herself admitting to often. The hole he’d left in Remus’ life was far greater and her grief felt like an inconvenience in comparison. So she’d practised pushing it down until she could pretend it wasn’t there. “But no, I morphed. Obviously.” 

“Coward.” She shot her middle finger up at him. 

“Scared the shit out of me” James admitted nodding slightly. “Cool though... Pads didnt you have a cousin or something that was a metamorphmagus?” 

Tonks and Sirius shot each other a look. Tonks bit her lip against a laugh.

“Yeah, why?” Sirius asked.

“What happened to them?” 

“Oh she married what's-his-name” He clicked his fingers impatiently. 

“...I don't know, what _is_ his name?” 

“Remus.” James’ jaw dropped in shock, eyes flitting from Tonks to Sirius and back again as though watching the world's quickest game of 2 man quidditch. 

“Fuck off.” 

“Yup.” Sirius said, popping the p obnoxiously. Tonks grinned. 

The door edged open again, slower than it had before, and Remus himself entered the kitchen. His exhaustion was evident all over his face. He looked like he may have never slept before. 

“Ha! You and Moony are related!” James cheered. Remus paused on his descent down the stairs and glared at him. 

“By marriage only.” He said grumpily. 

“Oh talk of the devil.” Remus only grunted in reply, sitting down at the table next to Tonks and resting his head upon his arms on the table. 

“Coffee?” Tonks asked with a knowing smirk. 

“Please” 

* * *

  
  
  


An hour ,and 2 cups of coffee each for Remus and Tonks, later, the 5 of them sat around the kitchen table in silence waiting for Harry. Remus could feel Tonks’ leg jigging nervously up down against her chair beside him. At 8:15 they heard the door burst open and the portrait of Mrs Black began her usual tirade above them. Remus rose quickly and dashed up the stairs to the hall before the others had a chance to move. 

“Here.” He said, coming to stand behind Harry as he struggled with the curtains and reaching for the otherside. “Easier with two.” 

“Thanks.” Harry said, catching his breath. “You’re still here.” 

“Where would I have gone?” Harry raised his eyebrows at him. “Okay yes, but we’re all still here.” Remus allowed his eyes to roam over Harry’s face, taking in the dark circles that hung around his eyes, eyes that looked incredibly bloodshot. “ All of us.” Harry nodded with a slight smile and they started off down the hall together. 

“Oh, and turn this way,” Remus said. Harry did so with a frown. He raised his wand, and the baby sick that stuck itself to Harry’s shoulder disappeared. “Problem solved.” 

“I-”

“I won't tell James and Lily.” Remus shrugged. 

“Thanks.” 

“I’m not even going to ask any of my burning questions about it either….Or the wedding ring” 

“Shit, you noticed that?” 

“Tonks did” Remus supplied. “So naturally, we all know. Tonks and Sirius now have a bet on who it is that you're married to” 

“And you want me to tell you so you can win the bet?” Harry smirked as they pushed open the door to the kitchen.

“As if I would.” 

James and Lily leapt to their feet as Harry walked in as though standing on parade. It was, Remus thought, somehow even more awkward than the night before, but at least they’d all been able to cry privately about it. 

“Sorry I’m late. Kingsley should be here in a minute too. He’s going to meet us here, and then I’ll take you with me to Hogwarts.” Harry said, inclining his head in Remus and Tonks’ direction. Tonks nodded her thanks. 

“Have you told him? That we’re… here?” Tonks asked. ‘Kingsley I mean.” 

“Err … no” Said Harry checking his watch. 

“Let him in and hope for the best?” Sirius wondered, with a smirk 

“I just told him it was important and a matter of life and death that he meet me here at 8:30” Harry said defensively. Remus supposed he wasn't wrong, really. The dead were now alive after all. 

“So he’ll have been outside for about 20 minutes already.” Tonks determined. She seemed ...nervous Remus thought, and he went and sat beside her once more. 

“Wait, Kingsley Shacklebolt?” James asked, drawing his eyes away from his inspection of Harry’s face to tune into the conversation. “Ravenclaw? Head Boy? Became an auror?”

Harry nodded, snatching up Remus’ mug from the table. “You mind if I steal this?” He set about making his own cup of coffee.

“Well what’s he got to do with anything?” James wondered aloud. 

“He’s the Minister for Magic.” Harry replied simply. Tonks snorted. “And considering I know exactly what that stone is that's now stuck inside Teddy’s chest we need him. That stone is not something we can have just loose in St Mungos.” 

“Loose?” Tonks’ head shot up. “It’s dangerous?”

“That’s not what I said” Harry muttered weakly. 

“You said it’s not something you want ‘loose’. Suggests it’s dangerous to me.” Tonks spat back. “And you told them to leave it in his chest!” 

“That's not what I meant.” Harry looked imploringly at Remus, who raised his eyebrows. He wouldn't admit it, but his heart seemed to speed up alarmingly with every word Harry spoke. “If I thought that it would be harmful to Teddy… If there was anything at all to make me think it would hurt Teddy in any way. I promise you, both of you, that it would already be out.” 

Tonks stared at Harry unblinkingly. 

“I’m going to see if Kingsley’s around.” Harry jumped out of his chair, splashing his coffee over the table and darted from the room. Sirius snickered. 

“Shut up Sirius.” Remus said as nudged Tonks with his elbow. 

“Why here Harry?” came a deep, calming voice from above them. “When we both have perfectly acceptable offices.” 

“Is that-” James began 

“Yes, shh” Remus indicated for Sirius to open the kitchen door just an inch. 

“Because it’s not something I can just bring into the ministry. I imagine people would panic.” 

“What is it?” Neither of them spoke for a long moment. “Harry?” 

“I’m trying to figure out how to tell you. It’s a shock. The biggest one I’ve ever had in my life and you’re just going to have to trust me.” 

Remus heard their footsteps approach the kitchen, his heart sped up in his chest. He’d been good friends with Kingsley. After the death of Dumbledore, and then Moody swiftly after, the Order had come to rest on their collective shoulders. Neither could say they were more in charge than the other, decisions were made together when possible, or relayed back when it wasn't. They, Remus and Tonks, had relied on Kingsley heavily during their final months in hiding when news was slower reaching them than ever and the cracks had begun to show. In turn, Kingsley had relied on them too. 

But this only fueled his anxiety. If he had thought Hagrids noisey sobs or Harry's inaction upon seeing them had been bad, he could only imagine the intensity of Kingsley’s fury. He was not going to look upon this kindly. 

Tonks, it seemed, had had the same thought. She had risen from her chair, wand clutched in her hand, as she gestured to Lily and James to step further away from the door. 

“This isn’t going to end well is it?” Tonks whispered into the silence. 

“Not a chance.” Sirius hissed back. 

Kingsley Shacklebolt was a man of logic, he had been placed in Ravenclaw for a reason he’d always said. There was no way to apply logic to this situation and come up with an explanation that wouldn’t end with Kingsley’s wand pointed directly at their faces. 

Remus let his wand slip from where it sat up his sleeve into his waiting hand as the kitchen door swung open. 

“I’m going to need you to not freak out,” Harry said, moving to place a hand on Kingsleys shoulder. 

There was a flash of light as Kingsley’s wand was immediately raised in front of him. James, Lily and Sirius fell to the floor, bound and gagged. Remus and Tonks, having predicted exactly this, were able to dodge the spell as zoomed towards them. Remus heard the crack of Tonk’s head against the table as she mis-calculated her duck. 

“I think he’s freaking out.” Sirius attempted to quip through his gag. 

“Shut up Sirius!” Remus insisted, reaching to grab hold of Tonks’ arm as she swayed slightly on the spot. 

“Kingsley!” Harry shouted. “Kingsley it's alright.” 

Kingsley remained silent, turning his wand on Harry.Before Remus had realised what he was doing, he’d given his wand a flick and Kingsley’s wand soared through the air into Remus’ outstretched hand. For a split second, Remus thought Kingsley may run at him, may forgo his wand and life time of wizarding education for a simple punch to the nose. Then Kingsley stopped, his eyes fixed on Remus’ face and the bruise on his chin, then to Tonks’ and the blooming red mark on her forehead. 

“Hello Kingsley,” Remus said pleasantly, trying to slow the panicked breaths that had risen in his throat. 

“Wotcher. You might want to sit down for this.” Tonks smiled. 

“Sit down?” Kingsley replied weakly. 

“Or ask us stuff first. Y’know to prove its us” 

“What was Mad eye's preferred colour of underwear?” 

“Blue and striped” Tonks answered. Remus caught sight of Lily's bemused expression through the fabric over her mouth and bit back a grin. Not the time. 

“How did we first meet?” 

“ I walked into you in the corridor and you spilled a shrinking solution on my top on my first day of training. I had to meet Scrimgeour in a shirt that barely covered my bra.” She returned 

“How did I get the scar on my knee?” Kingsley had turned to Remus now, his eyes boring holes in his cheeks. 

“Left or Right?” 

“Right.” 

“You didn't have a scar on your right knee. You fell through the window of Malfoy Manor and cut up your leg. It was healed in 5 minutes and didn't scar” Remus raised his eyebrows. 

“Alright, left then?”

“Hinkypunk attack when you were 7. You still hate them.” 

And then silence. 

“I told you it wasnt something, or someone, I could bring into the ministry.” Harry steered Kingsley, who appeared to be calming down, in the direction of a chair, but he shrugged him off. Instead he crossed the room in three strides, grabbed Tonks into his arms and lifted her off her feet with the strength of his hug. 

He caught sight of Tonk’s alarmed face over Kingsley’s shoulder. 

“Wotcher Kingsley.” She muttered as Kingsley put her feet back on the floor, but he didnt release her. Instead he seemed to hold her tighter, bent nearly double to place his head against her shoulder. Then he started to cry. Sobs louder and heavier than Remus would have expected from the man. His shoulders shook with the force of them, and as a result so did Tonks’. She threw a bemused look at Remus and patted Kingsley awkwardly on the back. 

“How?” Kingsley croaked as he drew back. “I carried your body into the hall. I laid it down on the floor. I helped organise your funeral. I gave a speech!” 

“Was it a good speech?” Tonks asked, smiling sadly up at him. 

“Yes! The magnum opus of funeral speeches.” Kingsley wiped his eyes aggressively with the heel of his hand. 

“You were nice to me?”

“Of course I was.” 

“You're never nice to me ” 

“Don’t make me regret it.” Kingsley’s arms dropped to his sides as he regarded both Remus and Tonks. “...Its good to see you both.” 

  
  


* * *

“So, I believe the stone that Teddy has in his chest is the cause of” Harry gestured wildly at the erstwhile dead. “This.”

They were gathered around the kitchen table again. Harry had been sent out for breakfast as soon as Kingsley had stopped crying and the table was covered in the empty wrappings of corner shop sandwiches and cheap sweets. 

“And you know what is?” Sirius asked around a mouthful of a chicken sandwich. 

“Yes” Harry paused for a long moment, leaving Tonks to gesture for him to continue impatiently with her liquorice stick. He took a deep breath. “It’s the resurrection stone.” 

“The resurrection stone?” Lily asked, “What is the resurrection stone?” 

“It’s from a children's fairytale. It doesn't actually exist, Harry.” Tonks said, Remus saw Kingsley nod curtly in agreement. 

“Yes. It does. I’ve seen it, I’ve held it. I’ve used it.” Harry looked to James and Lily, then to Sirius. “Those trees you remember? The resurrection Stone.” 

“What-” James began but Harry cut through him 

“When I knew I was going to have to let Voldemort kill me I walked down to find him-”

“You did WHAT?” 

“- And Dumbledore had left it for me inside a snitch. I used it and then you were there” He looked pointedly at the 4 of them.

“In the forest?” Remus asked softly. As much as he was reluctant to admit it, it made a sliver of sense to him. That the trees really did happen, even if it didn't truly happen when they were all alive. He wished he could remember. He wanted to remember Harry's strength. 

“Yes, in the forest, you walked with me. And then I dropped the stone when I… when I died-”

“What?!” Lily squeaked, James reached out and took her hands, pulling them onto his lap. 

“And you vanished” 

“Even if the stone was real Harry, a large part of that story is about the fact it couldn't bring back the dead completely. The second brother killed himself over it!” Sirius said. 

I know. I know. You weren't back from the dead when I used it.” Harry looked to Tonks. “But that stone is real. I’m telling you it’s real and it’s currently embedded in your son's chest” 

As Remus expected, this didn't help. “So you knew it was an incredibly powerful artefact and decided to just leave it in there?” 

“Dora.” Remus muttered warningly, she paid him no mind and ploughed on. 

“A powerful artefact connected to the dead that's doing god knows what to my son and you just decided to leave it his chest?!” 

“You heard Mcgonagall! She wanted to leave it there too!” Tonks huffed. 

“Dora, Harry was right. If this stone is what Harry says it is, its existence getting out could be disastrous. You know that.” Remus reached for her hand. “It’s okay.” A beat. Then Tonks nodded her acquaintance reluctantly, though he knew she was no less worked up. 

“So if it can't bring people back...why are we back?” James asked. 

“I don’t know.” Harry sighed. He removed his glasses and ran a weary hand over his eyes. “I really don't know.” 

“Right.” Kingsley said matter of factly, rising from his seat. “We are going to solve absolutely nothing sitting in here for a moment longer. You three.” He gestured to Sirius, James and Lily “Stay here for now. You three” He looked to Remus, Tonks and Harry. “With me. I need to see this stone for myself.” 

With the briefest of hugs between Harry and his parents, accompanied with a promise to return soon, they left for Hogwarts. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


Teddy was still fast asleep when they arrived, curled up in a tight ball as he dreamt. He looked so young, Remus thought, with his blue hair spread over the pillow like a halo, but also far too old. Yesterday he had been 2 weeks old. His eyes had been slate grey and wide, peering out at the world he could barely see yet. Remus had kissed him gently on the head as he turned to leave and Teddy had opened his eyes, waggling a chubby hand at him. He had told him he loved him, that he’d see him when the battle was over though he knew that the infant could not understand his words. Those had been the last words he had said to his son. A pathetic goodbye that he could not even remember. 

Teddy’s arms were crossed in front of him in sleep, in order to see the stone they would have to wake him up. Though the thought had appeared to occur to all of them, they all seemed hesitant to do it. 

“Maybe we should wait until he wakes up?” Harry suggested weakly. Kingsley smiled and shook his head. Remus stepped forward to Teddy’s bedside and, bending down slightly, placed his hand on the boys shoulder. 

“Teddy.” Remus said softly, shaking him as gently as he could. Teddy opened his eyes as slowly as he had that evening, peering at him with the same innocent besumement. Remus’ heart ached. 

“Morning.” He murmured as Teddy rubbed his eyes and pulled himself into a sitting position. 

”I didn't dream it...dream you?” He asked, taking in Tonks, Kingsley and Harry behind him. 

“Nope,” Tonks said, brighter than Remus knew she felt. He was almost impressed.”We’re still here.” Teddy beamed at her. “And we need to see that stone love.” She pointed to his chest, and he followed her finger with his eyes, the smile long gone. “It’s okay, we know what it is.” 

Harry nodded from behind them.“I know what it is Teds.” He smiled. “And Kingsley needs to see it, before we can do anything about it.” 

Teddy wrapped his arms around his chest possessively “Why do you need to see it? What is it?” 

“It’s the resurrection stone,” Remus said optimistically. Seeing Teddy’s confused expression he went on: “Have you ever read the Tale of the Three Brothers?” Teddy nodded. “So you know the brothers all ask for gifts from death and the second brother asks death for something to allow him to see the girl he loved who has passed away. Death gives him the resurrection stone-” 

“But she didn't come back back” Teddy let his hands drop to his sides. “She was like a ghost, all see through and stuff.” 

“No she didn’t come properly back. But that’s just a children fairytale, and everyone thought it was that way for years. Apparently “ He smiled at Teddy “that's not the case. The Resurrection Stone is, apparently, real. And that’s it” Remus nodded to the stone.

“And that's how we think your mum and dad have come back.” Harry chimed in. “ So we need to see that stone, and then we need to work out how to remove it.” 

“No!” Teddy exclaimed and he threw up a hand to cover the exact spot where the stone glimmered through his pyjama top, just as panicked as he had appeared the previous night.

“I’m sure St Mungos can get it out super fast Teddy, you won't even feel it. And -” Harry pressed on But Teddy didn't appear to be listening.   
He had frozen in place. Every muscle in his body coming to a stand still at the same time. His eyes were glued to a spot through the gap of Remus and Tonks’ shoulders and the blood ran from his face until he was the same colour as the sheets below him. 

“What?” Harry asked, following his eye line with a frown. 

“There's someone over there.” Teddy whispered. “And there wasn't before.” 

“There's no one over -” Harry started confused. But Remus cut him off. 

“Who’s over there, Teddy?” He asked as calmly as he could over the beating of his heart. The blood in his veins appeared to have turned to ice. 

“A man.” Teddy’s eyes hadn’t moved from the spot on the opposite wall. “He just appeared. He’s kind of...shiny” 

“Shiny?” Tonks repeated. 

“No. Transparent” Teddy corrected himself with a curt nod. “I think he’s bleeding.” 

Then he fainted. 


	6. Lied

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's another long one!   
> Featuring the bloody man as himself and Remus Lupin as traumatised.

“what is the matter with you?” James asked, watching Sirius stalk menacingly down the length of the kitchen. He’d been pacing ever since the others had left, head bowed and steps heavy as though he could pound away years of memories with his feet.

“Hate this place.” Sirius growled in response; his eyes didn’t leave the floor. “I was in this house yesterday, I’m in this house today. I died and I’m still fucking here.”

James and Lily exchanged a significant look. Lily sat with her elbows resting on the musty wooden table, holding her head up with one hand. Her hair tickled the tabletop as she followed Sirius’ progress.

“What do you mean you were here yesterday?” She asked softly.

“Alright I was here 13 years ago then”

“No, I know what you meant, I meant why were you here?”

“Couldn’t fucking leave, could I?!” Sirius snarled. James glared at him and opened his mouth in retort. Then he swallowed his anger and asked gently, as though calming a wild animal:

“Why couldn’t you leave mate?”

“You don’t – “Sirius finally stopped his pacing. “Of course, you wouldn’t”

Throwing himself so aggressively into a chair that James saw the back legs quiver, he began. He told them about Peter, about going to visit only to find the house deserted with no sign of a struggle. He told them how he had rushed to their house and stood amongst the smouldering ruins before setting off in pursuit of the little bastard and about cornering Peter in a crowded street as he screamed about betrayal. He explained how the street had exploded in a flash of brilliant white, and how Peter had escaped, though he skirted around what 13 people looked like when you blew them to smithereens.

The more he spoke, the more he found he could speak. Though his throat felt rough with the weight of the lump that had lodged there, he kept going. If he just stuck to the facts, lay out the events one by one he could forget, disengage, from the horrors he had experienced.

He danced around Azkaban, about how he escaped and the photo that had been his ticket out. By the time he had reached Remus’ transformation on the Hogwarts grounds, Lily had had tears in her eyes for quite some time.

“That must have destroyed him.” She whispered; horror struck.

“Yeah”

“And you.”

“Yeah”

He explained how the day had been saved by Harry, his too-smart-to-be-allowed best friend and a wayward Hippogriff.

“You wait until you meet Harry’s friends, you’ll love ‘em”

And he hinted at his year on the run before, drained, he said:  “And then when Voldemort came back, I offered the place to Dumbledore for Head Quarters and was stuck inside with a 10,000-galleon price tag on my head. I left the house once in a year and died.” He finished with a shrug and a mirthless laugh. It ran out through the kitchen as the Potters stared open mouthed at him.

“Fucking hell. “James said simply, leaning back in his chair and running a hand through his hair.

They sat in silence, Sirius’ words hanging in the space between them.

“I don’t – “James started, then he gave up on words and threw his arms around Sirius so hard they nearly fell to the floor. “fucking hell”

They held each other for a while, brothers in all but blood reunited once more. They didn’t speak, they didn’t need to.

“And now I’m back here.” Sirius grumbled as James disentangled.

“For now,” Lily said. “It’s only for now.” And the look in her eyes was so sincere that for a second Sirius almost let himself believe her.

“And how long is for now?”

“However long Harry and Kingsley think it needs to be” Said James “c’mon mate, you know neither of them want to keep you locked in here. Harry sounded like he felt terrible when he was here yesterday. It won’t be for long; we’ll be allowed out soon. You and me back on the town. Right?”

“Yeah.” Sirius agreed, then brightened. “Yeah. You and me, mate.”

* * *

Teddy’s head fell back against the pillow with a thump that belied his small frame. His face matched the white pillow behind his head in shade. Remus and Tonks’ eyes flashed to Madam Pomfrey in alarm.

“He’s… well he appears to have only fainted.” She looked bemused, pulling out her wand and running them over Teddy’s body. “Yes…everything seems fine. He’ll wake up in a moment I Imagine.”

“What on earth was that about?” Kingsley muttered, turning to face the door. But Harry was already striding purposefully towards the other side of the hospital wing, ducking his head to examine under beds as he went.

“There’s no one here.” He said. “Accio invisibility cloak! Finite incantatem.” Harry began to list spells as he went, checking every corner for the mysterious man. “They must have left, Kingsley, do you want to search the area?” 

Kingsley paced quickly over to join him, peering around suspiciously. Remus and Tonks remained steadfastly where they were, gazing down at their son as his eyelashes flickered gently against his pale cheeks. They were missing something, Remus thought, something important. His eyes drifted down to the stone, still visible in the gap of Teddy’s pyjamas and his blood ran cold. Suddenly he knew.

“Harry?” he called softly behind him. Harry returned to his side immediately. “When you used the stone, could anyone else see…us? When you were in the forest?”

“No. Sirius told me only I could see you, you were invisible to everyone else… Like you were a part of… me” He sounded ever so slightly embarrassed.

“And if the stone itself was part of someone?”

“You think…” Harry trailed off, shoulder to shoulder with Remus and Tonks staring down at Teddy. “Stand down, Kingsley'' He called.

“So, what, you think Teddy is seeing the...dead? Is that what that was? Teddy’s seeing dead people?” Tonks asked sharply.

“I think so.” Remus nodded. As much as he hated to admit it, as much as the thought made his stomach churn aggressively, it made as much sense as anything else he’d heard the last 12 hours. His son could see dead people. His head swam uncomfortably, this had been the weirdest 12 hours of his life, which was truly something given the previous 38 years of it.

“Great.” Tonks murmured weakly beside him. She was alarmingly pale under her shock of vibrant pink hair. He watched her sway slightly where she stood. Remus reached out a hand almost lazily and the chair from the opposite bed shuffled across the floor and stopped behind her.

“Show off” She muttered as she allowed him to push her gently down onto it.

“Sorry” He shrugged, a smile attempting to pull at corners of his mouth. He’d learnt wandless magic in his years of solitude following the first war. With no employment and no friends, he’d found he had very little else to do. It had also come handy when the money James had left him had run dry and the roof over his head had been ripped from him. It had kept him warm enough without alerting suspicion with his wand. Now, however, it was like a reflex. A really pretentious reflex.

Remus placed a hand on Tonks’ shoulder, seeking comfort. She leant her head against it gently as they continued to gaze down at their son. Remus felt physically sick. Worryingly physically sick actually. He was starting to fear that the nights events may not be the only cause. He pushed it out of his mind for now, Teddy was more important.

Teddy was also still unconscious. His deep steady breaths filled the silence of the hospital wing as he lay still on starched sheets.

“He should be awake.” Madam Pomfrey fussed. “He shouldn’t have been out for any longer than a few seconds. He’s asleep, more than anything, and with all the sleep he received last night…” She bustled off to her office, returning promptly with a sickly green solution. “Just in case.”

Tonks sighed. Whether it was a sigh of worry, or fatigue or something else, more akin to loss, Remus couldn’t tell. He squeezed her shoulder tighter, feeling her eyelids flutter closed against the back of his hand.

Feeling useless was something that Remus had always struggled with. Not to the point of his friends, he’d never been consumed with the burning desire for recklessness that had infected James and Sirius so young. He had no need, usually, to run guns blazing into a battle unless it was strictly necessary. He wouldn’t create trouble just to feel useful. No, Remus could sit on his restlessness, push it down within as he had, by the end, perfected pushing down most of his emotions. But still, it gnawed at him. As someone who had decided to give his all to both the cause and the people he cared about by the age of 17, Remus always had something to do if there was someone to care about. Some direction to head in at least, that made him feel as though he could help his loved ones.

But here, under the white lights of the infirmary with his wife and his son, Remus could no more help them than teach Grawp to tap dance.

They stood there for what seemed to be hours, though must have been no more than 10 minutes, watching for any sign that Remus’ abrupt conclusion may have been wrong and there truly was a bleeding man in the castle.

His legs throbbed with the desire to sit, but he wouldn’t give in to it. The ache was bone deep and seemed to be spreading. For the first time in years, the feeling terrified him.

“Harry?” He asked suddenly, realising the fear would let him put it off no longer.

“hmm” Harry hummed in response. He too gazed at Teddy with a small crease in between his eyebrows. Remus felt a rush of affection for the boy who had stepped up for his son, when his parents could not. He’d known, had told Tonks though she needed very little convincing, that Harry had been the right choice for godfather. Here was the proof.

“When’s the full moon?”

Tonks’ head shot up to gaze intently at him in concern. He knew that she was scanning his body surreptitiously for any sign of pain or discomfort, knew that she knew the question had not materialised from nothing in that moment. She nodded her head towards the seat she was sat in in offering, he shook his head. She was still very pale.

“I…I don’t know.” Harry admitted. “I’ll find out.” He turned and paced back to the door. “I’ll find out now.”

“The full moon is tomorrow night.” Professor Mcgonagall’s voice called from Madam Pomfrey’s office. Remus had quite forgotten she was there at all, though it had been she who let them in. “I checked when I left you all last night.” She emerged from the office and, meeting Remus’ eyes, she smiled. “I didn’t want there to be anything else for you to worry about. I dare say you have enough.”

“Thank you” Remus replied softly, the tightening in his chest alleviating a little. He wasn’t going to transform here in the hospital wing.

He would also be entirely without wolfsbane.

He pushed the thought to the back of his mind, he’d deal with that when the time came, and stared intently down at his son.

Teddy murmured softly as his eyes flickered open.

“Wotcher, bud.” Tonks had jumped up immediately, coming to stand closer to Teddy’s bed. “You alright?”

Teddy nodded groggily, reaching a shaky hand up to rub at his eyes. He still seemed shocked to see them standing there. Then again, thought Remus, when your parents had been dead for your entire life thus far it would probably shock you to see them for quite some time.

“What happened?”

“You fainted.” Madam Pomfrey answered briefly. “For too long. Drink” She handed him the bright green potion that appeared to be bubbling in its flask.

Teddy eyed it distastefully, his lips curling up in disgust.

“Drink” She repeated and, rolling his eyes, Teddy did as he was told.

“That was disgusting”

“Of course, it was.” Madam Pomfrey turned and walked back into her office. “It’s how you know it’s good for you.”

“She used to say that to me all the time.” Remus recalled, smiling down at Teddy. “Never helped.” He picked up the empty glass that sat on the bed side table and, filling it with water with a single tap of his wand, he handed it to Teddy. He gulped it down desperately.

“What happened to the man?” Teddy asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “The one over there”

Remus and Tonks exchanged a dark look.

“There was no man, was there?” The boy asked astutely as he looked at the pair.

“No sweetheart” Tonks shook her head solemnly. “No there wasn’t. Or rather there was, but only to you. Only you could see him.”

“Was he…dead?”

“Yeah” Harry answered. “The story with the second brother, remember? He could see his girlfriend but no one else could. It’s due to that thing” He pointed at the stone.

“Are they going to take it out?” Teddy asked

“Yes mate, yes they’re going to take it out. We just needed to see it first.” Teddy looked back to Remus and Tonks, his eyes wide. He raised a hand and covered his chest where the stone lay.

“What if you – He’s back!” He gasped, pointing at a space across the room. “Can he see me?” Harry nodded.

“Any idea who he is Teddy?” Kingsley asked. “The stone brings back people you have a close connection with does it not?” 

“It does usually.” Harry agreed. “But Merlin knows now.”

“I don’t think I know who he is.” Teddy muttered. “Hello?” He addressed the man.

It was strange, watching Teddy converse with a person they could not see. It was stranger still to see that the boy had begun shaking.

“Teddy?” Tonks asked softly. The boy shuffled up the bed closer to her and Tonks took his hand in her own.

“What does he look like Teddy?” Harry wondered, he sounded nervous. The sound, in turn, made Remus feel nervous. Teddy didn’t answer, just continued to stare at the man with his eyes wide.

“Hey” Remus said. “Ignore him for a second, it’s alright. What does he look like, Teddy?”

“Long hair. Scars. Teeth.” He breathed. “Tattoos. Lots of hair… he says he knows you” Teddy looked to Remus.

The thought had materialised in Remus’ mind unbidden. With every word Teddy said the image was growing stronger, the grotesque face that haunted so many of his dreams was drifting closer into focus. He could see those teeth and the crooked smirk, he could smell the breath that came with them, all sour and bloody. He knew that the hair would be matted with blood too, though whether it was the man’s own was always up for debate. He knew the muscles and the tattoos that adorned them, knew how strong arms those were when the man, the beast, wrapped his meaty fist around Remus’ neck and  _ squeezed _ .

He didn’t need to hear the next words out of Teddy’s mouth, though his blood froze with them regardless.

“Greyback.”

A collective gasp, or maybe a shudder, ran through the room.

“Teddy close your eyes.” Remus instructed sharply. “Now.”

Teddy did as he told at once, screwing up his eyes and burrowing closer into Tonks’ shoulder. Remus moved closer as well as he tried to shield his son from the monster he could not see. 

“Whatever he is saying to you, it isn’t true Teddy. He can’t touch you.” Remus looked to Harry, desperate for reassurance. Harry nodded slowly.

“He …He…He said he was going to… bite me”

“He can’t.” Remus growled. The noise was harsh, cold and barely sounded like him at all. From the corner of his eye, he saw Madam Pomfrey flinch, but he couldn’t find it within himself to care. It was as though every one of his bad dreams was coming true. For though he knew the man could not touch his son it did nothing to stop the panic gripping his chest like a vice. He had made a promise to himself, the moment he had returned to Tonks that night with a heart full of regret, the moment he had held Teddy that first time with a heart full of love, that Fenrir Greyback would never come anywhere near his son. He would not make his father’s mistakes. Would not make Teddy live with the consequences of them.

But now… now he couldn’t stop it. He couldn’t even see the man that had ruined his life with a single bite even as he continued to threaten his son.

“He’s not real” Tonks was repeating to Teddy as she cradled her son against her. He was crying now, hand clasping at the lapel of Tonks’ leather jacket so tight that his fingers had turned white.

Harry had walked to the end of the bed, standing where Teddy had pointed Greyback out to them.

“Look at me Teds” He said softly. Teddy’s eyelashes flickered as he opened them the merest inch, squinting at Harry through the gaps in Tonks’ arms. His breath was coming in short, panicked gasps, pulling air in desperately through his teeth.

“He’s not real.” Harry said calmly. “See, he’s not. If he was, I’d have walked into him right?” Teddy nodded anxiously. “and I haven’t, right? So, he’s not real and he can’t hurt you”

“Fenrir Greyback died in custody 10 years ago. I know that might not be as comforting as usual given the present company.” Kingsley inclined his head to Remus and Tonks, Teddy reached to pull them closer. “But we can all see your mum and dad Teddy, they can touch you because, somehow, they’re real and they’re actually here. Greyback is no more than an echo, an image that’s connected to you.”

“I can still hear him” Teddy whimpered; his arms retracted themselves from his parents to cross them directly over his chest. Remus immediately missed the warmth of the boy’s sweaty palm in his, it had anchored him to the world somehow. He grabbed Tonks’ hand instead.

“We need to get that stone out,” Tonks said, looking at Madam Pomfrey, her voice quivering. Everyone nodded their agreement, Madam Pomfrey bustlingly off to write an urgent letter to St Mungos, Kingsley turning on his heel and leaving the Hospital Wing to contact the Department of Mysteries. Professor Mcgonagall eyed the 4 of them and made a hasty retreat after Madam Pomfrey.

They were left alone, the boy, his parents and his godfather, in silence.

“This is so weird.” Teddy mumbled, now the initial terror had surpassed he seemed reluctant to look at Remus and Tonks, yet no more inclined to look at Greyback than he had been moments before. Harry came to stand next to him and Teddy’s eyes followed his movements as if transfixed. He seemed to be searching Harry's answering gaze for a clue on how to feel.

“Yes. It is” Remus agreed with the kindest smile he could muster. He knew that, no matter how hard he was trying, it would not reach his eyes. His son clearly needed a moment alone with his godfather.

“We’re going to pop outside for a bit.” Tonks took the words straight from Remus’ mouth. “Let you…I dunno, talk about it” She finished with a rather pathetic shrug. Teddy smiled at this, and the couple turned quickly to the doors before he could see how much the action had burned them. 

* * *

The corridor buzzed with distant life as the sound of students walking to class echoed from a corridor away. Yet this one remained blissfully, thankfully, empty. Even Kingsley had disappeared from sight. Tonks let her wand slip out of her sleeve and conjured two hard backed wooden chairs from thin air. They weren’t her usual style, even the things she conjured usually had more character, or at least comfort. Nevertheless, they sank onto them without a word.

They didn’t say anything for several minutes and though they both opened and closed their mouths to speak several times no words had come out.

Remus’ heart was still beating uncomfortably quickly against his ribs at the thought of leaving Teddy alone with Greyback.

He’s not real, he told himself. But had that ever mattered? When had the reality ever helped Remus? For even as an adult the name Fenrir Greyback was enough to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and cause him to break out in a cold sweat. ‘It’s not real’ had never cured him of the nightmares that had plagued him all his life, as he knew the empty assurance had done nothing to alleviate his wife’s suffering that morning. Because it  **had** been real. Fenrir Greyback had bitten him, remorselessly, happily. He had ruined Remus’ life and gone on to ruin countless others. He would have loved to get his yellowing teeth on Remus’ son, and would consider it a job well done to complete the set. He had threatened the same to Dora, or rather about her, had described to Remus in detail the things he would do with Tonks’ body and the way he would bite her. The memory had brought with it the taste of bile on Remus’ tongue. It had been mere days after Dumbledore’s funeral and they had run into each other whilst Remus had been on a seemingly innocuous mission for the order. He had come so close that day to finally ending it, ridding the world of Fenrir Greyback once and for all. But backup had arrived in the shape of long hooded cloaks and Greyback had slipped through his fingers again. As it was, Remus knew he had been lucky to escape with his life, but it didn’t stop him wishing.

The thought of Teddy –

“He can’t touch him.” Tonks broke the silence with a tone of finality in her voice. Whether she was reading his mind or simply reassuring herself, he nodded anyway.

He dared not look at her, dared not ask her how she was doing, certain that the second he did one of them would crack and the middle of a school corridor in the middle of the day, empty of not, hardly seemed the place. They would cry again, Remus thought. They’d have to because the pressure behind his eyes was getting to be too much once more and the lump hadn’t left his throat all day. Tonks’ fists curled tightly around the solid arms of her chair told him she felt the same, and the steady jigging up and down of her leg spoke volumes to the pent-up emotions lying just below the surface.

“Remus?” Tonks asked after what felt like an age. “How do we tell my mum? What do we say to your dad?”

It was as though a led weight had been dropped into Remus’ stomach. He had thought he could feel no worse. He had most certainly been wrong. In all of his panic about Teddy, and the overwhelming fact that 11 years had passed in the blink of an eye, he had forgotten all about his own father. He felt wretched.

“Fuck” He croaked, running a hand through his hair. It was thicker than he was used to, longer and curlier than it had been in years.

“How do we start that conversation? I can’t just wander in and say, ‘Hi mum remember me’ she’ll kill me!” Tonks said hysterically.

“We’ll…We’ll think of something” He replied uselessly.

“Well, we better think of it quickly Remus! She’s Teddy’s legal guardian, they’ll need her there and to give permission before they can get that fucking stone out. I don’t think the parents who died 11 years ago are gonna cut it with child safeguarding laws, do you?!”

“Fuck.” He said again, then composing himself said: “We’ll have to get Harry to do it, he’ll have to tell them before they see us. You’re right it won’t be pretty …. That is our only option.”

“I hate this.” Tonks dropped her head into her hands, covering her face with her fingers as though if she couldn’t see the world, it wouldn’t be there. Reaching to prize her fingers from her cheeks, he grasped her hand again.

It felt good, to just be able to hold her hand without fear of repercussions or snide remarks. They’d died, and Remus’ fears of other’s views on his marriage had died with them. He knew they would not stay dead and buried forever, his brain simply wasn’t wired for it, but here in this corridor, in the hospital wing with his son, this morning as his best friends had watched him cradle his wife to his chest, it didn’t matter. The thought was nearly freeing, but everything else was tied around his waist like a cinderblock and he’d never felt more bound in his life.

“Me too.” He whispered. Tonks sighed, and this time there was no mistaking the anguish hidden within it. He squeezed her fingers gently, hating himself for not doing more despite knowing that he had, right now, nothing else to offer.

“He doesn’t even know us. Yet he still knows far more about us than we do about him” Remus said miserably.

“We know he’s a Hufflepuff.” Tonks squeezed his hand back. She was forcing the casualness for him now, they bother knew it, but he clung to it.

“How?”

“His robes. Last night, they were yellow” She sounded triumphant. “So, I win.”

Remus groaned. “Maybe it was just a trick of the light, there was a lot of mud. That might just be wishful thinking” He teased.

“Nope. Admit defeat. He’s in  my house”

“Fine!” He said exasperatedly, though the corner of his mouth twitched with the effort of containing his smile.

“So, you owe 5 galleons.” Tonks added smugly. “Though I think we should account for inflation and call it 7”

“Where am I going to get 7 galleons from?”

“Oh Shit!” Her eyes had widened comically, and she sat bolt upright in her chair.

“What?!”

“We have  _ no _ money.”

They sat with this revelation for a moment. It was one thing to know you had no money on you and quite another to remember that every Knut, Sickle, and Galleon you ever had had been handed to your son 11 years previously, leaving you with nothing to your name at all.

“To be honest…This isn’t the most broke I’ve ever been” Remus admitted with a grin. Tonks looked at him, meeting his eyes at last with a small grin of her own.

“No, I did notice”

They were still smiling when, some 5 minutes later, they heard footsteps on the stone floor, walking quickly down the corridor toward them.

They both turned, expecting to see Kingsley striding towards them.

They didn’t.

Instead, they saw Neville Longbottom, 29, straight backed and proud, with his hand wrapped in a towel. The couple quickly turned their attention to the floor, attempting to blend into the stone wall behind them. One look and he’d recognise them both, Remus was sure of it. They had spoken a lot in the past year, or the past year for Remus at least. It had been he who had established the connection between Neville and Aberforth after all, put them in contact with each other and assured the pair that the other was to be trusted. He had figured out a way to contact Neville whilst he was at school by adapting an old trick of the Marauders. Charm 2 pieces of paper and what’s written on one appears on the other, coupled with the security spells on the map to vanish the words as needed and it was practically undetectable. The Marauders had used it to pass notes in class and plan childish rendezvous, Neville had used it to save lives. With contact inside the castle, Remus and Tonks had been able to help the students as much as possible. At the height of her pregnancy, brewing healing potions and bruise salve had been the only thing keeping Tonks sane, had made her feel useful when she hadn’t otherwise been able to help the cause or even leave the house in months. For his part, Remus had sent them news, the good and the bad, and taught them all the healing and defensive spells he could adequately teach through parchment. Anything to stop the churning in his gut at the thought of the children he had taught stuck in that truly awful situation. It hadn’t been a school, Remus had found through Neville’s writing, it had been a war zone.

Remus bit his lip, looking sideways at Tonks out of the corner of his eye. Her hair, they both knew, was at risk of giving them away. But changing it now would confirm it instantly.

“Morning!” Neville greeted cheerfully as he passed them.

Then he stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes fixed on Tonks’ hair. He shook his head slightly as though to clear it. “Sorry, I thought you were someone …I …knew”

His eyes had darted to Remus and he frowned in frightened bewilderment. His breathing had changed, Remus noted, his eyes glazed over as memories flashed unwelcome before his eyes. “I…I’m sorry…I...” He sounded like the uncertain 13-year-old he had known.

“Neville.” Remus said, raising his head. Tonks followed his lead and raised her head to look at the man too. “Neville it’s alright. Well, perhaps not alright per say but you’re not going mad. We are here. There was…an accident of sorts with the resurrection stone and suddenly we’re here.”

“we’re solid and everything.” Tonks held out her hand to Neville then cheerfully slapped the wall behind her, and the chair she sat on. Then she slapped Remus gently on the arm for good measure.

Neville stared at them open mouthed.

“Harry’s in there.” Remus nodded to the Hospital Wing. “I think he’s got the firmest grasp on… this right now.”

Neville nodded, a muscle jumping in his jaw as he clenched it shut. He pushed through the doors without a word.

He returned less than 2 minutes later, smiling so wide Remus was sure his face would split. Neville strode over to Remus and yanked him to his feet, before embracing him tightly. Remus hugged him back briefly, patting him on the back reassuringly.

“Sorry.” Neville said as he pulled back. “I just…wow. We’ve barely met, but-” He pulled Tonks into a quick hug too.

“Not when we’ve both been fully conscious at least.” Tonks said as they let go.

“Wow…I…wow” Neville’s happiness was contagious, Remus grinned back. Here was a relationship uncomplicated enough to just bring joy. No complicated feelings of loss or guilt.

“I should…I should get this checked.” He gestured to his hand. “Little accident with a bubotuber. It’s good to see you. Both of you.” He went to walk through the doors before changing his mind and looking back over his shoulder. “And thank you.” Then he left them alone in the empty corridor once more.

* * *

It had been nice, Remus mused as they wandered into the hospital wing a while later, and incredibly fortunate that It had been Neville, someone they knew to be trustworthy, rather than anyone else. When news got out about what had happened, and it’d have to get out if they were to have any chance of actually living, it wasn’t going to be pretty. Remus remembered the agonising ache of grief and the desperate search for something, anything, that could bring back his friends. Of course, there had been nothing, no spell, no potion, no complicated ritual that involved a lot of shape drawing and chanting in Latin. But what would happen when people found out it was possible, that escaping death had happened, if only this once. Maybe they’d have to get new identities, disappear abroad in the dead of night. Leave their son again. No, Remus decided, the only way things were going to be able to separate him from his son now was to kill him again. He was sure James and Lily would agree with him.

The idea that James and Lily could do anything in the present tense was still making his head spin. He’d spent so long training himself not to, to think of them only in the past tense. As long as it’d taken him to learn not to look over his shoulder to share a joke or look with his friends who would never be there again. The thought of undoing all those years of hard work made him giddy.

Teddy was sat crossed legged on his bed, eyes bloodshot and red. Yet he beamed at them as they approached. The fierce rush of love that coursed through Remus’ veins took his breath away.

“Wotcher.”

“Ran into Neville then?” Harry asked, nodding his head towards a bed with its curtains drawn. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that excited. I thought he was going to burst a blood vessel. Though maybe that was just the pus reaching his brain.”

“There was so much of it!” Teddy exclaimed, brighter than Remus had seen him. “He took the towel off and the whole thing went pop. Pus everywhere…. It was great.”

“It was disgusting.” Harry corrected.

“Pussy.” Harry flicked Teddy upside the head, and though Teddy squirmed away, Remus knew he had barely touched him.

“Harry” Tonks started uncertainly. “Has anyone told my mum anything?”

The colours drained from Harry’s face instantaneously until the red rims around his eyes stood out bright in contrast.

“No. “He said quietly. “I thought about it last night, that she needed to know Teddy had been injured at the very least, but then then that would lead to questions and I wouldn’t know how to answer them and I thought I should tell her it all …but how would she believe me and with…everything happening I just…well I forgot.” He looked ashamed. “I’m so sorry Tonks.”

“No, don’t be. Really. I’m glad you haven’t.” Tonks replied, throwing herself back into the chair beside the bed. “Merlin, that sounds awful doesn’t it. I mean I’m glad you didn’t tell her last night, before we’d figured things out and everything y’know.” She trailed off “and you had enough to deal with last night, still do, so don’t apologise for it Harry.”

“But” Remus interrupted. “Andromeda will need to be there at St Mungos, provided she’s Teddy’s legal guardian?” Harry nodded. “I don’t think Myself and Dora would really count given we’ve been dead for 11 years.”

“Oh god. I didn’t even think of that.”

“We’d rather she knew, before St Mungos contacted her about it or something.” Tonks shrugged.

Shakily Harry agreed that he needed to tell Andromeda as soon as possible for the longer they left it the worse it would be. They decided that the best course of action was to tell Andromeda everything; the lightning, the forest, the stone and the resurrection of her only child, at home as calmly as possible and then bring her here to see both Teddy and Tonks. No nasty surprises and no risk of suspected foul play, in theory. 

The plan sorted, Harry took a deep breath and left the infirmary. Remus and Tonks were left alone with their son for the first time since he was 11 days old.

Nervous didn’t cut it.

“Teddy, I’m going to be real honest with you.” Tonks said, Teddy looked at her expectedly. “I have no idea what to say.”

Teddy breathed a laugh.

“Me neither.” He admitted with an uncertain shrug of his shoulders.

“Never mind then aye, we can figure it out together.” She smiled softly, breathing a sigh of relief when he smiled back. “Merlin, there’s so much I should already know about you…” She trailed off. “This goes completely at your pace though Teddy.”

Teddy looked at her quizzically.

“It’s entirely up to how, and even if, we get to know each other” Remus agreed. “You say the word Teddy and we go- “

“No!”

“You have your life already, we know that. Where we fit in is something you get to choose.” Remus continued. Tonks nodded.

“It’s not something you have to decide now.” She added.

“What if I want you here?” Teddy asked quietly, gazing up at them pleadingly.

“Then here we are,” Tonks said simply, holding her arms out. Her knuckles knocked the edge of the bedside table and she winced. Teddy beamed in response and Remus could have sworn the room grew 10x brighter with it.

“20 questions!” Teddy said suddenly.

“What?” Remus was immediately transported to a night 14 years ago, sat in a bush outside Malfoy Manor with boredom eroding his mind, when Nymphadora Tonks had turned to him and demanded he play 20 questions with her. It had been their first proper Order Mission together, the first of many.

His eyes met hers and she smirked.

“Y’know where we get to ask each other 20 questions, except instead of about a thing it’s about…us” Teddy explained.

“Alright. You go first.” Tonks moved to sit cross legged in her chair. “Hit me.”

They were still going when Harry shuffled into the room an hour later. What had begun as 20 questions had quickly dissolved into a free for all, as, Remus found, most games with Tonks usually did. They had covered favourite colours, foods and animals, what pizza toppings they preferred (Tonks had spent 5 minutes telling Teddy that pineapple was sacrilegious and therefore Remus was too for liking it), what quidditch teams they had supported (Teddy was horrified to find that Remus had never really cared for Quidditch) and what their favourite sweet was. Teddy was an avid reader, Remus found out, and had read the Chronicles of Narnia so many times as a child that Andromeda had had to replace the set when the bindings broke. He loved magical creatures and his favourite lesson was transfiguration.   
(“I have a natural advantage!”)  
He was also, it turned out, very interested in the trouble the Marauders had caused. Remus suspected it wasn’t entirely innocent, but really, he didn’t care.

“James and Sirius once made Iron Giant monstrosities out of a couple of suits of armour and decided to fight them. It wasn’t until we had to drag Sirius out of the lake that they realised perhaps they should have gotten out of them before attempting to fight to the death.” Remus told him with a chuckle, he caught sight of Harry’s pale face out the corner of his eye and grinned at him. Harry’s returning smile was shaky at best.

“That’s so cool though!”

“They’ll be glad to hear it, I certainly never told them” He turned to Harry. “Everything alright?”

“Andromeda’s outside.” The smiles slid off their faces at once. They’d forgotten.

* * *

Harry walked up to the front door of Andromeda Tonks’ house like a man being led to the gallows. His legs felt stiff and heavy, and his arms vibrated at his sides. Why did this impossible task have to fall to him?  
Okay, so he knew why it had to be him, but as usual the thought was anything but comforting. He’d rather escape a dragon again, take one of Hagrid’s beloved Blast Ended Skrewts for a walk, battle a troll with nothing but his own wit, than walk into that house.

But it was good news, he told himself, the best really. So why was this so difficult?

Because she wasn’t going to believe him, that’s why.  Harry remembered the way Andromeda’s legs had threatened to give way at Remus and Tonks’ funeral, how he had been lucky enough to catch her before she fell. He remembered the way she had opened her home to him after the battle, when he had come to see Teddy several days later.

“You’re always welcome here, Harry.” She had told him, her voice breaking with the grief she had carried for so long. “If you need to…get away.” She had stared at him then, as though peering into his soul and said; “You meant so much to him.”   
He’d even taken her up on the offer a couple of times, spent nights asleep in the spare bedroom of her house. Teddy had been so integral to both of their healing, a reminder that the loss had been  _ for something _ .

So lost was he in his own thoughts, Harry didn’t notice he’d knocked on the door at all,until Andromeda was stood before him.

“Harry! What a lovely surprise, come on in. I’ll make us some tea.” She ushered him over the threshold and into the kitchen.  He sat silently at the kitchen table; his eyes focused on the grain of the wood until she joined him.

“Harry, what is going on?” She asked at last, raising an inquiring eyebrow.

“I’ve got something I need to tell you, but you’re …well you’re not going to believe me. Harry shook his head despairingly. “Ask me something.”

“Pardon?”

“Ask me something only I would know. Let me prove it’s me.” Andromeda looked bewildered.

“Very well.” She thought. “When Edward was 3, what colour did he insist on having his hair?”

“Green. He wanted to match Ginny’s Harpies uniform. I used to bring him to her practises as the mascot and he’d always end up asleep in the stands.” They both smiled at the memory.

“well then, I believe it’s you Harry. Now will you tell me what this is about?”

“Just remember that, right. Remember that it’s me and I’m not about to lie to you.”

Then he took a deep breath and told her everything.

“ _ Get out _ .” She said coldly when he was done. “Get out of my house.”

“Andromeda – “

“How dare you enter my home and try and feed me such lies.” She appeared to be shaking with rage, her eyes blazing with fury. She had never looked more like her sister.

“Andromeda listen to me!”

“No! I want you out of here right now. I do not know what you thought you would get from me by telling me …telling me…that that my  _ dead _ daughter has somehow… somehow r-risen from the grave, but I assure you, you are not getting it!”

“Andromeda, Listen! What could I possibly get from this?! And my parents! Why would I lie to you about them, why would I pretend any of this was happening unless it was?!”

“ _ I don’t care _ .” The words were thrown at him, dripping with as much venom as Andromeda could muster.

“You do. You do care, of course you care. Try me again! Let me prove its really me.  _ You know  _ I wouldn’t lie about this, of all things, Andromeda please!”

“No!” Andromeda stalked her way across the kitchen from him as though trying to distance herself from his nonsense.

“Teddy used to beg to go flying and would then cry if he went more than 2 feet off the ground. He gets awful hay fever and still has to wear a hat in Spring because every time he sneezes his hair changes colour. Tonks broke her arm climbing the tree in the garden and then went straight back and climbed it again, wouldn’t come down until Ted bribed her! I crashed into your garden 12 years ago with Hagrid and a motorbike. You fixed my teeth.”

“STOP” She yelled. Then she sobbed. “Stop.” Harry couldn’t tell what was worse.

“I know it’s impossible to believe Andromeda, but I’m telling you the truth. Teddy is in the hospital wing with the resurrection stone in his chest and Remus and Tonks are sat there with him.”

“Stop” She pleaded again, tearfully.

“Not until you agree to come to Hogwarts with me.” She said nothing in return but sobbed into her handkerchief.

“That’s all I’m asking Andromeda. Come up to Hogwarts and see Teddy. We need you there at St Mungos. That’s all I’m asking” Again, there was no reply, but she had lifted her head to regard him with a piercing stare.

“Andromeda, please.”


End file.
